Track and Field competes in Atlantic 10 Championships
The Saint Joseph’s University men’s and women’s track and field teams travelled to Virginia to compete in the Atlantic 10 championships on Feb. 18-19. The teams each had an exceptional weekend with the men’s squad taking seventh place and the women’s squad earning eighth. The men’s team competed against nine other teams while the women were up against 12 other schools.
Women’s head coach Melody O’Reilly was impressed with her team’s performance in the conference championships.
“We had more people qualify for the finals than last year for sure,” O’Reilly said.
The Hawks found individual success in the midst of their team accomplishments. The women’s team had four individual medalists on the weekend.
Junior Claudine Andre earned a silver medal in the high jump. Her jump marks her fifth consecutive conference meet in which she earned second place for this event, and she matched her best jump of the season at 1.70 meters.
Senior Emely Ramirez made her mark with a 1.65 meter high jump to help her tie for third place. Senior Sarah Regnault took third in the 1000 meter run, an event she nabbed the title for at last winter’s A-10 Championship meet. Sophomore Nathaniela Bourdeau earned a bronze medal in the 60 meter after matching her collegiate personal record at 7.69 seconds.
There was no single standout performance for the weekend, according to O’Reilly.
“It’s hard to single anyone out because there were so many good performances for the team,” O’Reilly said.
The women’s track and field team finished with 50.5 points for the weekend.
The men’s squad had their share of success, led by junior Steve Thompson who earned six medals over the weekend, three in individual events and three in relays. Among these medals was a gold in the 800 meter, making him only the fifth St. Joe’s champion in the event in the program’s history, according to an athletic department press release.
Thompson also had a hand in the second-place distance medley relay that also included junior Dave Garton, freshman Trae’ Robinson, and junior Collin Crilly.
Men’s team head coach Mike Glavin remarked earlier in the season that Thompson does a good job of setting up a lead for the distance medley relay in addition to his individual successes.
“As far as standout athletes, one of the ones that comes to mind is Steve Thompson,” Glavin said.
Garton earned his first conference medal in an individual event with a third place finish in the one-mile.
Senior Jimmy Daniels earned his first conference medal as well, a bronze in the 5000 meter.
Over the two days, St. Joe’s earned 54 points to give them a seventh place finish in the A-10 Championships.
With the conference championships out of the way, the Hawks’ season is not over. After this meet, the men’s and women’s teams will both travel to the Fastrack Last Chance Invitational in Staten Island, NY. on Feb. 25, where athletes have one more chance to qualify for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships (ECACs), or the IC4As for the men’s side.
While the A-10’s were a critical meet for both teams, the ECAC’s present an even greater challenge for the end of the season.
“It’s [ECAC’s] definitely a higher end meet in the fact that you have to qualify for it, and you see a lot more teams from a lot more conferences on the east coast,” O’Reilly said. “It’s much tougher competition.”
With the spring season only a little over a month away, the Hawks feel prepared for what lies ahead based on their winter season performances.
“This sets us up really well,” O’Reilly noted about the team’s winter season. “I think we’ll have a fantastic spring, because we are so far ahead of last year at this time on every level. At every distance they are stronger, faster, and more confident.”
