Meet Information
Race: PAC Indoor Track & Field Championships - Watson and Tressel Training Site ( WATTS)
Location: Youngstown, Ohio
Date: February 24, 2022
Short Story: The Barons showed their dominance in distance running today, as Liam Galligan took home three individual gold medals. Miguel Daez won the 800 meter as well. Franciscan placed 2nd out of the 10 teams for their best finish in a PAC Track & Field Championship in school history. 



Highlights for the Barons
- The Barons made their presence known in the the first running event of the day in the 3000 meter run. Liam Galligan ran to a first place finish with a time of 8:47.94 with teammate Mark Borek less than a second behind him in second place. Miguel Daez gave Franciscan four more team points with a fifth place finish, by running a new personal best time. George Kaftan made it four Barons on the podium, as he claimed 8th place with a time of 9:14.47.

- In the second running event finals of the day, the Barons showed their depth once again. Liam Galligan won the one mile run with a time of 4:27.87. Only three seconds behind him in third place was Austen Duggan with a new personal best time. Mark Borek gave the Barons three members on the podium with his sixth place finish in a time of 4:33.57.

- Franciscan would jump into first place for the second time today after earning 19 points in the 400 meter. David Cappello would finish in second place with a time of 50.79 seconds. Freshman Joseph Rohde was as close as third place could be, as he was one, one hundredth of a second behind his teammate Cappello. Easton Syvertson ran a great time of 51.86 to place in 6th place while running in the second to last heat, and Ryan Ozymy placed in 7th. That would give Franciscan 61 points through three running events.

- Miguel Daez claimed Franciscan's third gold medal of the day by winning the 800 meter run. His time of 1:58.67 is a season best time by any Baron runner this indoor season. In the tightly packed field, Austen Duggan was just a little over a second behind Daez, as he claimed 5th place and four more team points. That climbed Franciscan's score up to 75 points, as they sat at the  top the men's leaderboard.

- Joseph Rohde made his second trip to the podium in the 200 meter dash to secure two more points for the Barons. He ran the event in a time of 23.06 seconds. Also in this event was James Ricketts who place 16th with a time of 24.22. Through 10 scored events, Franciscan had 77 points in second place. Westminster would have the lead with 83.5 points.

- Liam Galligan continued his historic day, by earning his third gold medal of the day. He ran the 5000 meter in a time of 15:53.33 to place first. David Di Nardo stepped up and claimed fourth place with a time of 16:11.76. Mike Sobus placed 12th, Conal Delaney 14th, and Austen Duggan claimed 18th place. This would bump Franciscan's team score to 92 points, as they now trailed Westminster by 20 points after the Titans had very strong showing in the pole vault. 

- For the first time this season, Franciscan ran the Distance Medley Relay. The Barons would run to a second place finish with a time of 10:53.35. Running would be Miguel Daez, Easton Syvertson, Ryan Ozymy, and Mark Borek to register eight more points.

- The last event of the night was the 4x400 relay, and the Barons would finish in second. The team of Joseph Rohde, Austen Duggan, David Cappello, and Liam Galligan improved their best time of the season, as they ran a 3:30.18. Those eight points would set their final score at 108 points. 

Results

Up Next
Franciscan will have one last chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, as they run next weekend at Ohio Northern. They will be running on March 4th and 5th in Ada, Ohio at the Polar Bear Last Chance Meet. The final descending order lists will be posted by 9 a.m. (EST) on Sunday, March 6 on ncaa.com. For each men's individual event contested (including the heptathlon), the top 20 declared student-athletes will be accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 12 declared teams will be accepted into the competition.

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