Despite their best efforts, the College’s men’s and women’s track teams lost to Rider University 100-67 and 92-72, respectively. While the Lions may not have picked up the victory, there were still some positives to take out of the meet as many athletes qualified for the ECAC’s.
“I think that as a team, we just need to come away knowing that we competed well for the first time as a real team and hope that this competitive nature carries us into bigger meets like the NJAC’s and the ECAC’s,” said senior Andy Herschman.
Senior Christopher Medina led the way as he blazed to a personal best 6.49 seconds in the 55-meter dash, an ECAC qualifying time. Medina got second place in the 200-meters at 22.70, another qualifying time.
Several distance runners also received ECAC qualifying marks and second-place finishes. Senior Shaun McGeever was second in the mile at 4:18.97. Sophomore Dominic Tasco was second in the 1,000-meters at 2:30.17. Herschman ran to an 8:47.04 and a second place in the 3,000 meters.
The ECAC qualifying marks were not done there. The field events proved to add to the success. Junior Steven D’Aiutolo won in the triple jump with 14.29 meters. Junior Julio Alorro captured top honors in the pole vault, clearing 4.50 meters. Finally, sophomore Scott Lisa capped off the day by coming in second in the high jump at a height of 1.98 meters.
“It’s great to have a bunch of guys and girls going to ECACs,” Herschman said. “We show up there to really compete and perform at a high level so the more people that we have going, the better our chances of reaching certain goals are.”
The women also had some ECAC qualifiers despite losing the meet. Sophomore Katie Knight had two qualifying times — 8.77 in the 55-meter hurdles and 5:09.59 in the mile. Freshman Katelyn Ary raced to a 1:00.29 in the 400-meters. Freshman Liz Johnson was second in the 1,000-meters with a time of 3:02.31, while fellow freshman Michelle Cascio sprinted to a 26.80 in the 200-meters. All of these times also qualified for the ECAC.
In the field, the Lions dominated the pole vault, taking first and second as sophomores Jackie Chester and Brigit Milorey cleared 3.25 meters (ECAC qualifying time) and 2.80 meters respectively. The result was the same for the high jump as freshman Katheryn Karovic and Knight had a one-two finish, clearing 1.53 and 1.48 meters respectively. Rounding out the Lions’ performances was an enormous victory in long jump as sophomore Erica Roberts cruised to an ECAC qualifying mark of 5.44 meters.
“Saturday was my first meet back from injury, so I was nervous about competing, but my teammate and I came out on top,” Karovic said. “It gave me a lot of confidence going into these next couple meets knowing that I can shake off the nerves and compete to the best of my ability.”
While the loss was disappointing, the plethora of standout performances was encouraging for the College and gave them something to build off of.
The College will head to Massachusetts on Friday as they partake in the two-day Boston University Valentine Invitational.
“Being so close to home is nice because we’re so comfortable at the local tracks, but heading up to Boston gives us an opportunity to be at a great facility and get into a really competitive meet,” explained Herschman. “We’re all going to be looking for national qualifiers, and I think going away makes a meet like that a little more special.”
