By Shelby Townsend
Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s indoor track teams both placed fourth at the East Coast Conference Championships Feb. 24 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island.
Three runners captured the league title in their respective events: junior Talya Williams won the mile with a time of 5:02.81, freshman Jeffrey Reyes won the 1,000 meter run with a time of 2:32.59, and senior Stefan Adams dominated the 500 meter dash with a time of 1:04.06, breaking the meet record by more than three seconds.
Head Coach Kevin Buckley said that Reyes had been dealing with “nagging injuries” all season, but with time to rest before the meet, he was confident in Reyes’ ability to perform at this meet. Each athlete who won their event automatically qualifies them for the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Boston on March 4.
Williams followed her victory in the mile with a third place finish in the 3,000-meter run. Graduate student Elizabeth Stirling and freshman Kaitlyn Klein both placed second in the 5,000-meter run and shot put, respectively, and freshman Nicole Costanzo cleared 1.50 meters to place second in high jump. Sara Stebbings finished fifth in high jump, and scored her first points this season for the Pioneers. Four runners placed fourth in their events: Stirling in the 3,000-meter run, freshman Alexandria Okon in the 500-meter dash, freshman Nicolette Agostinacchio in the 800-meter run, and graduate student Ashlin Conroy in the 1,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run.
For the men, Adams followed his win in the 500-meter dash with a second place finish in the 200-meter dash. Sophomore Jermaine Ifill finished the 400-meter dash in third, and freshman Twary McKenzie also took third in the triple jump. The 4×400 team of Adams, Reyes, Ifill, and redshirt junior Kyle Ward ran a season best 3:23.25 to place second.
Buckley told the Pioneer earlier this season that his goal for the ECC Championships was to place in the middle of the pack as a team. With nine women’s teams and eight men’s teams competing at the meet, both teams were able to accomplish this goal.
“They met my expectations but kind of went beyond what everybody was expecting,” Buckley said. Many of the athletes ran multiple events with very little breaks in between, but Buckley said his teams were able to stay physically and mentally tough.
The athletes who won their event at the ECC Championship qualified for the final meet of the indoor track season, the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Boston on March 4.
Be First to Comment