The team makes notable strides
The St. Joe’s women’s and men’s track and field teams traveled to compete in both the Penn State National Open Indoor Track and Field and the Monmouth University Winter Invitational from Jan. 26-Jan. 27. Putting their best runners forward, the Hawks came back with impressive results during these two events.
At Penn State, junior Lucy Harmon came in second place for the 1000m with a time of 2:55.61.
“Lucy Harmon had a fantastic weekend out there, 1200m she ran,” head coach Melody O’Reilly said.
Harmon and senior Cassidy Weimer, with 4:58:82, qualified for the ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships this upcoming March. Nathaniela Bourdeau competed in the semifinals for the 60m and finished 11th overall with a time of 7.79.
The effort and hard work of the women’s Distance Medley Relay team of Harmon, graduate student Sydney Coughlin and Weimer paid off. They gained a new best with a time of 11:56.02, with sophomore Caroline Duffy running second leg for the relay with a time of 58.10 seconds.
“Someone who stood out to me was Caroline Duffy, because she ran 56 as the anchor for the 4x400m relay, and she came from last in that heat to win,” O’Reilly said.
The men’s squad had notable performances.
Senior Steve Thompson won his heat in the 800m and came in second place overall with a time of 1:53.73. Sophomore Zach Michon ran the 1000m in 2:28.07, and the two were able to qualify in various events for the IC4A. Sophomore Aaron Lemma ran 50.91 in the 400m, allowing the Hawks to make their presence known at the PSU National Open, and proving to be contenders against large division I schools.
The Hawks earned a total of 88.5 points in comparison to Monmouth, totaling 206.5 in the Winter Invitational.
At the Monmouth Winter Invitational, freshman Claire Podles won the 500m, and sophomore Karley Hess competed in the 400m, with the fastest time in her collegiate career.
Sophomore Aaliyah Stokes place third in the 60m. In the high jump, sophomore Emily Clayton placed third at 1.55m and sixth in the 60m and in the 800m.
On the men’s side, sophomore Collin Gallagher won the 3000m with a time of 8:53:37, with three teammates coming in behind him to place in the top five in this race. David Bryant has shown much improvement in his performance from the beginning of the season by placing fourth in both the 60m and the 200m. St. Joe’s came in second in the meet with 56 points, and Monmouth totaled 229 points in the competition.
In preparing for upcoming meets, the team is trying to make adjustments to not only their time, but also their positioning throughout the events.
“I look forward to being able to improve on the things I know I can do better in,” Bryant said. “My coach always tells me to get the arch on my back and stay straight upwards, so that I’m not leaning back. I’m trying to get getting better at that.”
The Hawks will have their next meet at Frank Colden Invitational at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. on Feb. 3, along with the Villanova Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y later that day.
Correction: In a previous version of this article it stated that the 4×400 meter relay gained a new best time of 11:56:02 and sophomore Caroline Duffy ran the anchor, when actually the Distance Medley Relay made this time and Duffy ran the second leg. It also stated that sophomore Karley Hess posted the fastest time in collegiate history in the 400m, when actually she had a personal record. It also stated that sophomore Aliyah Stokes placed eighth in the 2000m, when actually she did not run this race.
