Both men’s and women’s track and field sweep weekly awards.
By Ryan Connelly
On March 24, the track and field team made its outdoor season debut at the Penn Challenge.
Army, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, La Salle, Maryland and Villanova were the teams competing. For the men’s team, junior shot put thrower Marcell Brown finished third with a toss of 15.43 meters. Right behind him in fourth place was freshman Adam Maid, who recorded a distance of 15.28 meters.
Freshman javelin thrower Stephen Chesonis threw for 53.62 meters, finishing fourth in his collegiate debut. Senior discus thrower David Gaynor placed fourth with his IC4A-qualifying 47.55 meters performance. Gaynor won MAAC Male Field Performer of the Week. While in the same event, junior Cody Campbell finished 12th with a personal record of 39.17 meters.
Five Broncs placed in the top 17, including three in the top 10 in the hammer throw. Junior Matt Kraemer earned sixth place with a throw of 50.40 meters, and senior Joe Clarke placed eighth with a new personal record of 46.86 meters.
Senior Danniel Belay earned seventh in the 800, recording a personal best of 1:55:20. Sophomore Tom Long placed ninth with a time of 1:56:12.
Senior Anthony Ardino was able to obtain seventh place in the 1500 in 3:56:58 and won MAAC Male Track Performer of the Week. Sophomore Isaiah Jean-Baptiste finished 18th at 4:03:02.
For the women’s team, senior hammer thrower Karoline Sandvig placed third with an ECAC-qualifying 53.07 meters which won her MAAC Female Field Performer of the Week. Junior thrower Ashley Berry had a fantastic day; she placed 12th in the hammer throw at 41.75 meters, 10th in shot put with a 12.52 meter and ninth in the discus competition, hurling the object 39.08 meters.
Sophomore Peri Pavicic earned a personal best time of 4:47:94 in the 1500, finishing in 19th place and received MAAC Female Track Performer of the Week.
Graduate student Ariana Gagliardi placed 21st in the 800 meter with a 2:35:20 effort and senior Briann Downes placed 23rd in 2:38:41.
Head Coach Bob Hamer said, “We had a nice start to the outdoor season. It was a nice day weather wise considering the challenges that we have faced with the weather recently.” We competed with great effort. We may not have had the desired final outcomes in some events, but the athletes put themselves out there and competed. If we keep competing with this attitude and conviction, the results will soon follow.”
The Broncs are set to host a dual meet against St. Joseph’s, Sacred Heart, Fordham, Fairleigh Dickinson and Rutgers (Men’s only) on March 31 at 12 p.m.
