CALIFORNIA, Pa.— The Franciscan University track and field team broke several school and personal records at the California University of Pennsylvania Early Bird Meet, their first outdoor meet of the season. Although the meet was un-scored, FUS athletes set benchmarks for the rest of the season.
"I use the cliché 'happy but not satisfied'," said head coach Vince Oliver of today's results, "which means that we've got a lot of work to do still. The season is very young, this was the very first meet, but it was a very good meet and I think it showed us our strengths and our weaknesses."
Oliver added that this is one of the most hard-working teams he has coached at Franciscan and that the marks they achieved today attest to that.
One such standout Baron athlete was senior Bill Jones, whose first-place 5000 meter run earned him a spot in the Penn Relays, which will take place April 25th-27th. Jones shattered his previous outdoor personal best and the school record of 14:35.92 with a new time of 14:24.78. Jones ran a 14:33 in a pre-season exhibition indoor meet at the Capital Invite in Columbus in February.
"Bill continues to be focused on what his ultimate goal is: the Division III National Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse," Oliver said. "His offseason work, plus his pre-season work show in the way that he ran today, but Bill's effort is always 110%, so we appreciate that."
Key performances for the rest of the men's team included junior Jacob Baugher's second place 400-meter dash time of 52.30 and fourth place 200-meter dash time of 23.2; junior Dillon Clark's seventh place, personal best long jump mark of 5.70 meters, and freshman Jace Vansteenburg's eighth place, 800 meter time of 2:04.71. Senior Jack Kaiser also placed sixth in the 5000-meter run with a time of 16:32.47.
Highlights from the Lady Baron side included freshman Katherin Molidor's personal record time of 6:00.68 in the 1500-meter run and junior Emma Lipnicki's personal record of 29.9 in the 200-meter dash. Oliver said, however, that the entire women's team is to be commended for their persistent work both in practice and competition.
"We started the season with some minor experience and our women look like a team that's been running their whole lives," Oliver said, adding, "That's a credit to their specialized coaches as well."
Overall, Oliver said that the day was indicative of the dedicated training both the Barons and Lady Barons have been doing in the pre-season. As the team prepares to travel to Mount Union on April 6th, Oliver said the athletes will focus on growing together as individuals and as a team.
