BETHANY, W. Va. – The Franciscan men's and women's track and field teams had an impressive showing at the Bethany Invite with several runners hitting personal bests.
On the women's side, freshman Emily Theurer ran a strong 1,500-meter race to take fourth overall with a time of 5:16.76. She then teamed up with Anne Marie Krall, senior captain Kelly Limmina and senior Natia Smith for an exciting 4x400 meter relay. After a steady first leg from Limmina, Krall and Smith helped chip away at the Lady Barons time before Theurer passed a pair of runners to move FUS from fifth to third in the event. The traditional distance runner helped the Lady Barons to a solid 4:40.34 finish in the 4x1.
Limmina PR'ed twice for the Lady Barons, in the 100-meter and 200-meter, to lead a strong day for the Lady Baron sprinters. Limmina finished below 16 seconds for the first time in her career in the 100-meter dash with a time of 15.92. She followed it with a PR in the 200-meter with a time of 32.33.
Smith continued the sprinters' success with a time of 15.74 in the 100-meter dash and crossed the line at 32.29 in the 200-meter dash. Krall had the top finish for the Lady Barons in the 100-meter dash with a time of 15.05 for 14th place.
On the men's side, freshman Nick Long stole the show for the Barons. The Youngstown, OH native shaved a full 36 seconds off of his personal best in the 5,000-meter run with an impressive time of 16:19.27 to take third.
"In general, conditions were tough with the wind so to run as well as he did was impressive," remarked interim head coach Chris Ledyard.
For the sprinters, Carlo Fabian had another great day on the track for the Barons. He narrowly missed the finals cut with a personal-best time of 11.97 in the 100-meter dash and took 17th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.52.
In the 200-meter dash, Timothy Wiese ran a personal-best time of 28.51 for the Barons.
Freshman Ben Erste ran well again for the Barons with a time of 12.07 in the 100-meter dash, and ran the 200-meter dash for the first time in his career and finished 12th after crossing the line at 24.79. Erste then anchored the fifth-place 4x100-meter relay team to a time of 46.65.
"Both relay teams ran well while running with a substitute runner because of injuries," remarked assistant coach Dr. Alan Schrek.
The 4x100-meter team featured Fabian, freshman Timothy Quayle, Wiese and Erste while the 4x400-meter relay team took fourth with a time of 3:44.85. Quayle and Fabian teamed up with James Mello and Hunter McDonnell for the 4x4.
McDonnell took fifth in the high jump for the Barons with a jump of 5' 9.75".
Senior James Kueber threw a solid 12.03 meters in the shot and finished third overall in the discus with an impressive 39.93 meter toss.
"We are in a good place. We are gathering momentum and there is a lot of good happening in each area," remarked coach Ledyard. "There are a few people that want to compete in other events and everyone is really moving forward."
"What's happening right now is everyone is getting better and faster and we are really going to peak at the right time."
The track & field teams continue their season next week as they travel to Mount Union to compete in the John Homon open on April 9.
