The College’s track and field teams traveled to Haverford College and took their opponents by storm on Friday night, Jan. 20, capturing several top finishes in all different areas. The schools they competed against were Haverford, New York University and Widener University.
The story of the day for the women was top freshman performances, starting with freshman Michelle Cascio, who made her mark on the meet. She won the 200-meters with a blazing time of 27.41 and also finished second in the 60-meter dash at 8.36 seconds. Freshman Liz Johnson matched her with a first and second place as well, pacing a win in the mile at 5:17.21 and taking second in the 800-meters with a time of 2:24. 75.
“The team and I have been training really hard since October so it feels really good seeing the rewards of it play out,” Cascio said. “So far, I guess I’ve been pretty successful, but there is definitely room for improvement and I’m hoping that with even more training this season will continue to be a really good one.”
The bonanza of top freshman finishes did not stop there. Freshman Ketelyn Ary was the winner of that same 800 race, finishing just a step ahead at 2:23.64. Another freshman, Katie Johnston, won the 400-meters with a time of 1:02.53.
“The other freshmen have been doing so well and it’s awesome to watch each other’s successes, because we all understand how nerve-racking it was to make the transition from high school competition to collegiate competition,” Cascio said.
Junior Brielle Doremus and sophomore Katie Knight were top-two in the 60-meter dash at 9.95 and 10.42, respectively. Five out of seven running events were won by the Lions.
Senior Steven D’Aiutolo led the College’s winning ways for the men as he cruised to a victory in the long jump, leaping 6.45 meters. He finished almost a foot farther than the second-place jumper, who was from Widener.
“I did not expect to win by that much, but every time I go out and compete, I attempt to win the event,” D’Aiutolo said. “This was my season opener in the long jump, so it’s a good way to start the season.”
Receiving a personal best and dipping under seven seconds, senior Christopher Medina rocketed to a second-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.97. He only lost to the College’s assistant coach, Ashhad Agayapong, who ran unattached. Freshman Louis Fisher added to his stellar rookie season by winning the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.12 seconds.
“We’re really close as a team and we all knew that Chris was working real hard to get under seven seconds,” D’Aiutolo said about the race. “Having him start off the meet with a big PR (personal record) like that really does fire up the rest of the team and sets the whole tone for the meet.”
Second-place finishes were also aplenty for the Lions. Senior Andrew Herschman grabbed the No. 2 spot in the mile with a time of 4:22.31. Sophomore Michael Spekhardt got second in the 200-meters with 23.50. In the field events, two freshmen showed their stuff with second place finishes as James O’Connor got 1.77 meters in the high jump and Jamie LeRoy launched the shot put 12.03 meters.
The meet was a dominant showing for the Lions, who had at least a second-place finisher in the majority of the events. It is a promising sign for what’s to come this season.
The College will run again on Saturday when they travel to the University of Delaware to compete in the Thompson Invitational.
