CALIFORNIA, Pa. – The Franciscan track & field season got off to a hot start with the men's and women's teams combining to set five new school records at the California University of Pennsylvania Early Bird Invitational.
The meet was the team's first of the season and head coach Rob Copeland said the FUS teams set a good standard for the rest of the year.
"We came into this meet with our indoor meet being canceled so this was really a barometer meet for us and really, we're ahead of schedule," Copeland said. "I think everybody for the most part exceeded expectations today."
Those exceeded expectations were headlined by broken full NCAA school records by freshman Chris Figueroa and sophomore Susanna Almeida in the men's and women's 100 meter dash respectively, as well as school records in the discus and shotput from freshman Brad Montgomery.
Almeida, a promising runner whose freshman season was cut short by injury, ran a 13.68 while Figueroa ran a 11.76. Copeland said that while those times are a great start to the season, they should just be the beginning for the two talented sprinters.
"Its always nice to start the season seeing records being broken, but there is still a lot of room for growth," Copeland said. "It you're talking about potential being their ceiling then they're still on the ground floor working up. But I'm happy with where they are right now."
Montgomery's record in the discus throw came in at 41.47m and Copeland said that puts him within shooting distance of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference qualifying distance.
The other school record came from freshman Olivia Janney who became the first Lady Baron to compete in the high jump.
"The big thing about today is that all of these records were set by underclassmen and all but one by freshmen," Copeland said. "So we've got things going in the right direction and we've got young talent."
While the young talent stood out on the timesheet, Copeland also made a point to give credit to the leadership of his upperclassmen. In particular in said team captain Matthew Howder's distance running despite being sick was inspiring performance.
"He did what a captain should do; run when conditions are adverse," Copeland said. "He showed the kind of leadership today that you need to build a program around."
The team also saw strong distance runs from freshman Graham Martin in the 1500 and from sophomore Jennifer Gray who shaved almost a 1:40 off of her previous best time in the 10k.
The team will look to improve on those times at their next meet, the Wooster Invitational on March 28.
