GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. – The Franciscan men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up a successful 2018 Colonial States Athletic Conference with an impressive final day of events as the teams turned in two more ECAC marks, three school records, and 11 more personal records. The Barons finished fourth with 95 points while the women took seventh with 31 points.
The 95 points for the Barons is the highest point total for the barons in a championship meet.
In one of the last races of the day, junior Bernadette Williams and freshman Beth Flanagan ran the 3000-meter steeplechase for the first time in their careers and posted a pair of ECAC marks. Williams took second with a personal and school record of 12:26.77. Flanagan was close behind as she posted a personal-best mark of 12:34.63.
Williams and Flanagan then helped the 4x400 meter relay team to an exciting final race of the day for the women. The team of Williams, Flanagan, freshman Morgan Litterer, and sophomore Janelle Lunde shaved 2.80 seconds off of their seed time for the narrow seventh-place finish.
Freshmen Sydni Cain and Victoria Snell kicked off the last day of the meet for the women with a pair of personal-bests in the 5,000-meter run.
Lunde kicked off her final day of the championship meet narrowly missing a personal best in the long jump as she took ninth with a distance of 4.70 meters. Shortly after her long jump wrapped up, Lunde earned a spot on the podium with a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in a hard-fought race. Lunde crossed the line at 1:11.85.
Litterer took fourth in her heat of the 400-meter dash and 11th overall with a time of 1:07.34 while freshman Sofia Cantu took second in her heat and 13th overall with a personal-best time of 1:08.32.
On the men's side, the final day of championships opened with a very competitive 5,000-meter run. Freshman Liam Galligan was just edged out for second as he crossed the line at 16:02.68. Sophomore Matthew Crotteau took seventh with a time of 16:31.29 and classmate Grady Stuckman took eighth with a time of 16:35.68. Freshman Athanasius Sirilla narrowly missed the podium as he took ninth with a time of 16:45.08. Senior James Sarlo took 14th overall with a time of 19:47.33 and freshman Matthew Murphy finished with a time of 21:38.63 in the race.
Senior Carlo Fabian hit a personal best in his first event of the day as he jumped a 5.72-meter-long jump and missed the finals flight by one jump. The Steubenville, Ohio native ran a 52.67 in the 400-meter dash to take 10th overall.
Fabian ran the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay that set the Barons' record to finish off the meet. Galligan opened the race before handing the baton off to freshman Austen Duggan. Duggan then passed it off to junior John Bolster who gave it off to Fabian. Fabian crossed the line at 3:32.13 to set the school record and secure fourth in the event.
The men's 4x100-meter relay team of freshman Sergie Daez, sophomore John Lademan, freshman Tristan Rios and junior Hunter McDonnell took sixth overall with a time of 46.33.
McDonnell took fourth overall in the high jump as he posted a top-jump of 1.75-meters to earn a spot on the podium. McDonnell went on to take fourth in the 110-meter hurdle finals after qualifying the day before. McDonnell broke his own school record with a time of 16.80 in the finals. McDonnell picked up one more school record as he won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 570.06. Freshman Easton Syvertson took eighth in the 400-hurdles with a personal-record of 1:06.10 after setting a personal best time in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.95.
Junior Nick Long turned in another stellar day for the Barons as he won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:53.54 to set the championship meet record. Sophomore Patrick Tansill took the 3,000-meter steeple for the first time and took fourth overall with a time of 10:32.70.
In the 800-meter run, Duggan took fourth overall with a time of 2:02.08 while Bolster was right on his heels with a personal-best time of 2:02.27. Freshman Mark Borek finished seventh overall with a time of 2:03.83 and Tansill narrowly missed scoring in the race as he took ninth overall with a time of 2:05.52 after coming in second in his heat.
The track and field teams will now prepare for the ECAC championship meet set to begin on May 16 in Baltimore, Maryland. The championships are hosted by Johns Hopkins University and Franciscan is preparing to send its highest number of athletes to the postseason meet.
