By George Tatoris
Staff Writer
The distance medley relay is an unusual race. Each leg is a different length, making it the only track event in which long distance runners and sprinters compete together.
The College’s women’s track team won the event at the ECAC Championships on Saturday, March 7 through Sunday, March 8.
“Overall, we ran 11:59, which was our fastest time of the season,” senior Megan Stack said.
Senior Michelle Cascio also said she enjoyed the distinct change of pace between her leg, the 400-meter, and the former leg of the race, the 1200-meter run by freshman Allison Fournier.
When Fournier handed the baton to Cascio, the College was in fifth.
But when Cascio handed the baton to senior Katelyn Ary for the 800-meter leg, the College was in third.
Ary’s race put the College in first, allowing Stack to anchor the race with the 1,600-meter.
Stack held out and crossed the finish in first out of 20 teams.
“Overall we ran 11:59, which was our fastest time of the season,” Stack said.
“The mix of distance runners and sprinters in this race is really special because almost everything else we do is separate,” Cascio said.
Overall, the women’s team ranked 14th in the meet and the men’s team placed 26th.
The distance medley was hosted on the first day of the meet. However, the second day saw a riveting performance by Ary in the 500-meters, where she was just a tenth of a second shy of claiming first in the event.
“It was such a blessing that my last meet at the New York Armory was a strong race,” Ary said.
Her 1:14.68 finish earned her second place and a school record. The time also topped the meet record for the event, but that victory was negated by Sasa Vann of Buffalo State, who finished first in the event.
In the mile, Stack finished 11th with a time of 5:10.64, and on the field, senior Joan Hales finished the weight throw in 15th with a toss of 14.70 meters.
The men’s team started off strongly on the first day, with junior Jake Lindacher advancing to the championship race of his event, the 60-meter high hurdles, and fellow junior Jonathan Stouber taking sixth in the longest race, the 5,000 meters, with a time of 15:09.96.
On the field, senior Juan Giglio took 14th in the pole vault with a height of 4.37 meters.
The highlight for the men on the second day, was the championship race of the 60-meter high hurdles, where Lindacher took fourth with a time of 8.294 seconds.
“The time wasn’t exactly where I wanted it,” said Lindacher, who would’ve preferred a time under 8.20. “But it was good to see competition that I’ll see this week at nationals.”
On the same day, freshman Dale Johnson took seventh in the mile with a time of 4:20.28.
Senior Erik Moutenot took 20th with a time of 1:07.64 in the 500-meter dash, and sophomore Zach Hubner took 27th in the 60-meter dash at 7.181 seconds.
As the NCAA championship meet rapidly approaches, the track team is excited to compete at a national level.
“We are all ready and have been preparing for this for months,” Ary said.
