By Nicole DeStefano
Staff Writer
The women’s and men’s track and field teams hosted their first home meet of the season on Saturday, April 8. More than 60 universities and athletic clubs competed at the TCNJ Invitational.
In the 200-meter dash, freshman Samantha Gorman crossed the line in 25.84, finishing in fifth place. Junior Danielle Celestin also placed 12th overall. She clocked with a time of 26.40.
Gorman then placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.70. In the same event, Katie LaCapria finished eighth with a time of 1:01.17.
“My 400 was definitely not the best I’ve ran,” Gorman said. “The wind was pretty strong during the race, so I felt it a lot, making it difficult for me to finish strong. However I’m not unhappy with my time, it just makes me more excited to run it again next week. I’m really excited about my 200 time.”
The Lady Lions had a strong showing in the 110-meter hurdles. Junior Meagan McGourty finished in third place with a time of 15.79. In sixth place was freshman Kristen Hall with a time of 16.05.
The women also found success in the 400-meter hurdles. Junior Jenna Ellenbacher took second place with a time of 1:05.88. In third place was freshman Nicole Tampone, who crossed the finish line in 1:07.27. Freshman Christine Woods clocked in at 1:07.72 for fourth place.
In the distance events, junior Allison Fournier clocked in at 2:23.32 in the 800-meter dash for fourth place. In the 1500-meter run, junior Caroline Moore came in at 11th place with a time of 11:03.33.
In the field events, senior Tracy Prentice had a strong showing in the pole vault. She placed first overall with a clear of 3.25 meters.
Sophomore Madison Heft came in third place, jumping 2.95 meters. In the high jump, Hall finished in second place with a height of 1.55 meters.
On Friday night, sophomore Erin Holzbaur competed at the Sam Howell Invitational in Princeton, N.J. Holzbaur ran a time of 11:02 and placed third out of 16 runners.
The men also had a successful home meet. Senior Jake Lindacher had two top-10 performances in the 100-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash. In the 100-meter hurdles, Lindacher clocked in at 15.12 to come in eighth place. Lindacher also placed fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.10.
In the 200-meter dash, sophomore Nathan Osterhus came in sixth place with a time of 22.53. Osterhus also placed ninth in the 400-meter dash, finishing at 50.99. Sophomore Thomas Livecchi came in fourth with a time of 50.17.
“I’m looking to compete and get better everyday,” Osterhus said. “NJACs and nationals are the end goals, so those are the most important times of the season. In the upcoming weeks, I’m looking to drop my times and reach my goals that we set in the beginning of the season.”
Freshman Daniel Pflueger clocked in at 57.03 in the 400-meter hurdles to secure a fifth-place finish.
The duo of junior Dale Johnson and sophomore Quinn Wasko had solid performances in the distance events, both placing ninth in their respective races. Johnson ran 4:09.70 in the 1500-meter event and Wasko finished with a time of 9:06.71 in the 3000-meter race.
In the field events, senior Chris Guglielmo cleared at 4.60 meters in the pole vault for second place.
The Lions will be compete at two meets next weekend. On Friday, April 14, and Saturday, April 15, the team will travel to Moravian College for the Greyhound Invitational. Also on April 15, several team members will compete at Widener University for the Chester Quarry Classic.
