GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. – The Franciscan men's and women's track & field teams closed out the season at the Inaugural Colonial State Athletic Conference championship meet, Saturday and Sunday. The men finished sixth with 55.5 points while the women took seventh with six points.
"It was another historical step. The last two days were history in the making," remarked head coach and athletic director Chris Ledyard. [These teams] can measure the work they have done and the accomplishments they have achieved by being recognized by the CSAC. We have basically stepped into a place where Franciscan track and field has never been and this is the beginning of something grand."
Junior David Byers got the Barons their first points with a strong 3,000-meter steeplechase. Byers shaved 34 seconds off of his personal best with a time of 10:52.99 to capture fifth place.
The 100-meter dash preliminaries brought a record-setting time and personal best times for both the men and women as the Barons and Lady Barons had strong showings in the quick race. Junior Ben Erste captured his first school record of the meet with a finish of 11.52 in the 100, breaking the FUS record by .02. Erste also found his self on the All-Ohio performance list with his finish on Saturday. Sophomore Carlo Fabian was not far off the record time with his personal best of 11.60 in his flight of the 100-meter dash.
Senior Kelly Limmina was the first Lady Baron to take the track for the meet and set her personal best in the 100-meter dash. Limmina finished her heat at 15.16.
"Even though we had only two women competing in the sprints because of injuries, they did very well," commented sprinting coach Dr. Alan Schreck. "I am really proud of how Annemarie has progressed. She's a junior but it's her first year running with us and each week it seems like she is hitting a new personal best and I am proud of how she competed all year long."
Freshmen Nick Long and Grady Stuckman tacked on more points for FUS as the pair ran a strong 10,000-meter race take second and third place respectively. Long and Nick Budinski from Marywood were battling for most of the race before Long pulled away to secure second place with a time of 34:55.40. Stuckman kept a steady pace in the middle of the pack for most of the race until he kicked it into high gear and ran past several runners to run his best race of the season, a personal best, and finish third with a time of 34:57.02. The time shaved 1:24 his previous personal best.
"We had great conditions Saturday night for the 10,000," remarked distance coach Shaun McKeegan. "I was impressed with how the guys ran this weekend."
The 200-meter dash prelims closed out the first day of competition and Fabian hit his second personal best of the meet with a 23.32 and narrowly missed qualifying for the finals. Erste also hit a personal best in the 200 with a time of 23.76. Junior AnneMarie Krall joined Limmina with a personal best for the Lady Barons with a time of 29.34 in the women's run of the 200-meter dash.
Long and Stuckman kicked off Day Two of the CSAC Championships with the 5,000-meter run after taking on the 10,000-meter the night before. Long took fifth this morning with time of 16:40.64 while Stuckman scored with an eighth place finish at 17:10.38.
The Baron 4x100 meter relay team set the second school record of the meet as the team of James Mello, Fabian, freshman Timothy Quayle, and Erste took fifth with a time of 44.96, breaking their own FUS record.
"This was such a fantastic performance," complimented Coach Schreck. "They have worked so hard on their stick passing these last few weeks and they just work hard and really came through."
While the field events began on Sunday, Quayle and Fabian were running in the 400-meter dash and joining Erste on the All-Ohio performance list. Quayle took second in his heat and eighth overall with a time of 51.88, .03 shy of his personal best, while Fabian took ninth with a personal-best time of 51.99, breaking 52.00 for the first time in his career.
Following the men's run of the 400, the women took their turn and Krall captured her second personal best of the weekend with a time of 1:05.15 to take second in her heat and ninth overall, just missing a scoring position. Limmina recorded her personal best in the 400 with a time of 1:13.64, taking sixth in her heat and 13th overall.
Freshman Hunter McDonnell was in the process of jumping in the high jump while the 800-meter run lined up. After his first two jumps, McDonnell ran the 800 in 2:12.21 to take 10th and finished his jumps with a top height of 1.75 meters, .04 meters off his personal best and school record, to tie for seventh.
"There was some confusion on the 800 unfortunately but he was able to come back and get close to his record in the high jump and considering how that went it was good feeling for him," commented coach McKeegan.
"Hunter has come along very well. He is very consistant and has beautiful form, we now are working to get him stronger," remarked jumping coach Anwaa Martin.
During the races, the throwing events were underway and seniors Jimmy Kueber and Brian Tullier were making their mark in the shot put and discus while freshman Danielle Busche continued her success in the discus.
Busche was the first Lady Baron to score after taking third in the discus. It took the freshman just two throws to hit her personal best distance of 27.40 meters (89' 11").
"Danielle was especially surprising today," complimented throwing coach Kenny Davis. "I am really proud of her. Never once did she say 'This is too hard and I don't want to do this anymore' but with the help of our amazing training staff we were able to get her back out there today and she did great."
Kueber earned a pair of medals with a second-place performance in the discus with a distance of 39.15 meters and a third-place performance in the shot put with a distance of 13.05 meters.
Tullier joined Kueber on the podium with a fifth-place distance of 12.13 meters in the shot put whole taking 11th in the discus at 27.46 meters, both personal bests for the year.
"The guys have been doing what they can all season. Jimmy plays another sport and Brian is extremely busy with school but they find the time to come out and I am truly proud of all of them and how they have progressed all year."
Freshman Jude Ledyard joined the Barons for the championship meet and jumped a personal-best distance of 5.47 meters in the long jump to take 14th.
"Considering he has not jumped since junior high, Jude did very well," complimented Coach Martin. "The more I can work with him, the better he will get and it's exciting for the future."
Freshman Antonio Sierra was the next scoring runner for the Barons as he took sixth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:27.64 and senior Conner Smith finished the race with a personal-best time of 5:15.77.
"It has only been the third time Antonio has been able to run the 1,500 because of injuries and today was an impressive run by him," said coach McKeegan.
Franciscan 4x400 meter relay team closed out the first CSAC championship meet in impressive fashion as Fabian, Quayle, Mello and McDonnell narrowly missed the school record and took fifth with a time of 3:35.47.
"The 4x4 team ran five seconds faster than what they ran earlier this season and to shave that much time shows how hard they have worked all season," remarked Coach Schreck.
"This [meet] really gives us the opportunity to be shooting for something from the beginning of the season. I have been with the team since 2005 and it's been great to see the progression of athletes since then but not being in the NCAA and a conference gives us the opportunity to compete at a high level and allows us to extend our season," remarked coach McKeegan.
"Most of [the guys running] are underclassmen and have something great to build on," commented Coach Schreck. "Right now this gives us confidence that we are really competitive with these schools but this also gives us something to shoot for."
"This is making us hungry. This a big step forward for us. It's not only encouraging but its setting a challenge in front of us."
