The College’s men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams earned several NCAA and Eastern Conference Athletic Championship qualifying marks last week at the Larry Ellis Invitational hosted by Princeton University.
Over 35 teams attended the two-day competition, which started on April 22, under adverse weather conditions that forced the pole vault and high jump to be moved indoors.
“It was chilly, rainy and the track was wet,” senior Miriam Khan said. “The weather makes a huge difference, which is why many good sprinters run in the South.”
The women’s team earned a combination of NCAA and ECAC qualifying marks.
Khan placed third in the 100-meter dash, posting a NCAA qualifying time of 12.28 seconds. The 4x100 relay team of Khan, sophomore Brielle Doremus and freshmen Micheaux Ferdinand and Erica Roberts placed ninth with an ECAC qualifying time of 49.2 seconds.
Khan’s goals for the rest of the season include repeating as a national champion in the 100 meters, winning the NCAA 200 meters, and running well at ECACs against Division I competition.
Junior Claire Johnson finished her race in the 5,000-meter event with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 17:21.73. Sophomores Rachel Morris and Danielle Aran qualified for ECACs in the same event by finishing with times of 17:54.97 and 18:38.59, respectively. Freshman Megan Flynn also earned an ECAC mark in this event, posting a time of 18:39.02.
Junior Katie Nestor qualified for ECACs by finishing the 800 meters in 2:18.47.
Freshman Emily Kulcyk posted an ECAC qualifying time of 1:02.85 in the 400-meter hurdles, while Ferdinand earned an ECAC cut in this event with a time of 1:05.18. Freshman Katie Knight finished the 100-meter hurdles with an ECAC time of 15.92 seconds.
Freshman Brigit Roemer cleared an ECAC height of 1.6 meters in the high jump, while senior Brianna Brennan qualified for ECACs with a javelin throw of 37.1 meters.
The Lion men also met NCAA and ECAC standards.
Senior Kyle Gilroy earned NCAA marks in two different events by placing third in the 400-meter hurdles (52.92 seconds) and seventh in the 110-meter hurdles (14.67 seconds).
Junior Julio Alorro placed ninth in the pole vault, soaring an NCAA height of 4.8 meters. Classmate Colin Gold cleared 4.4 meters in the same event, an ECAC height.
Sophomore Steve D’Aiutolo triple-jumped 13.94 meters for fifth place overall, the best jump in Division III and an ECAC qualification.
Gilroy, D’Aiutolo and freshmen Michael Spekhardt and Kevin Mulcahey ran the 4x400 meter relay in an ECAC qualifying time of 3:19.91.
Senior Dennie Waite completed his run in the 1,500-meter event in 3:54.56, an ECAC time. Classmate Rob Nihen finished the 5,000-meters with an ECAC time of 15:01.36.
The Lions’ next meet will be the 117th Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, which start April 28. This event is the nation’s oldest track and field competition, as well as one of the largest.
“The Penn Relays are the best of the best on the college level,” Khan said. “Over 1,200 schools, high schools too, will be attending and last year Usain Bolt was there.”
The College will then host the Lions Invitational on April 29.
Khan will run the 100 meters at the Penn Relays and said she won’t run in the Lions Invitational if she makes the finals. She offered some words of advice for her younger teammates.
“Set high goals, because as a freshman, I never thought I’d be a national Division III champion,” Khan said. “If you put your mind to it, you can achieve great goals.”
