By Malcolm Luck
Sports Editor
The Lions traveled north to run in the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships from Friday, March 2 to Saturday, March 3 at Ithaca College. Competing with a total of 22 teams, the women’s team took sixth place while the men fell to 15th.
Junior Natalie Cooper led the Lions in top finishes, as she placed second in the 5000-meter event with a time of 17:56.63. Her performance marks the fastest New Jersey Athletic Conference 5000-meter time for the season by well over 20 seconds.
The next three competitors for the top 5000-meter indoor seasonal NJAC marks were all Lions as well, as second, third and fourth places are occupied by junior Madeleine Tattory, sophomore Gabby DeVito and junior Emma Bean, respectively.
Sophomore Kaila Carter contributed four points to the team’s total tally in the 60-meter hurdle event, where she placed fifth with her time of 9.12 seconds.
In the 200-meter dash, senior Danielle Celestin and freshman Shannon Lambert collectively earned the College five points as they placed sixth and seventh with times of 26.40 and 26.49 seconds respectively.
In the 4x400 relay event, the squad of Lambert, freshman Dana DeLuca and seniors Jenna Ellenbacher and Meagan McGourty completed the race in 4:02.00 to earn second place out of eight teams. McGourty also displayed her versatility in the field, where she earned fourth place in the high jump with a mark of 1.59 meters. Sophomore Allison Zelinski also dazzled in the field with her long jump mark of 5.47 meters, earning her fifth place and four points for the College.
For the men, a few performances overshadowed an overall disappointing finish.
In the 800-meter run, junior John Wood placed third with a time of 1:56.95, earning the team six points. Junior Noah Osterhus kept pace, finishing the same event in 1:58.60 and contributing four points to the Lions’ tally.
Senior Dale Johnson also placed third in the mile event. Johnson completed the event in 4:16.43, earning six points.
With his time, Johnson also achieved the third fastest NJAC mark for the mile event this season.
In the 4x200 relay, junior Nathan Osterhus, sophomore Tyler Andriopoulos and freshmen Daulton Hopkins and Tana Gawe earned eighth place and one point for the College with their time of 1:33.60. A team of Gawe, sophomore Mike Zurzolo and freshmen Robert Abrams and Joey Erskine competed in the distance medley relay.
The squad earned ninth place, narrowly missing a point-earning finish by .17 seconds.
Next up are the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships from Friday, March 9 to Saturday, March 10 in Birmingham, Alabama.
