Outdoor Track and Field Opens 2018 Season
The Saints Ice Breaker Open for outdoor track and field was during the afternoon on Saturday, March 31. A cold, sharp wind presented a challenge to both the athletes competing on the track and the fans watching from the stands, but the Saints still brought their best to the meet.
The Liberty League awarded Gordon White ’18 the Track Performer of the Week. White won three individual events and contributed to the 4×100-meter relay. He posted an All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Conference Championship qualifying time of 10.89 seconds in the 100 finals. Ian Clough ’21 also qualified for Nationals, posting a time of 10.90.
After the meet, White revealed to reporters, “I think the team really got off to a great start this weekend. I felt like we maintained our momentum through the end of the indoor season really well. Personally, I’m really excited about my performances, and I think as we start transitioning from pre-season workouts to in-season, everyone will start to see improvements in their times and distances.”
Distance runners also claimed success on Saturday. Evan Page ’18 claimed first place in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:59. Page was closely followed by his teammate Zach Lang ’19, who placed third in the event with a time of 16:08.
Mary Terhune was awarded the Liberty League Rookie of the Week after placing first for the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:56. Laura Gardner ’20 also had a successful day on the track. Gardner placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.12 and second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.40.
From the field events, Will Merchant ’19 also qualified for the Regional Championship in javelin with a throw of 53.77 meters. Merchant was awarded the Liberty League Field Performer of the Week after Saturday’s competition. Merchant is feeling excited for the two home meets coming up during outdoor season.
The Saints dominated the hammer throw as Kevin Danaher ’20 took first place with a toss of 44.15 meters. His teammate Dylan Babcock was close behind him with a toss of 42.49 meters. The two of them also placed second and third in the discus. Danaher told reporters that “as a team, I think we’ll do better for outdoors than we did for indoors,” and that his goal as he transitions into outdoor season is to improve at javelin.
For the women’s throw team, Leah Conners, a graduate student who still competes for the Saints, posted a regional qualifying mark in hammer, with a toss of 44.75 meters. She tossed it 3.40 meters further than her closest competitor.
Hannah Fake ’18 set a new school record to win pole vault. She broke the record of 3.31 meters set by Greta Elliot in 2004 on her first attempt at 3.32 meters. She then improved on her second attempt at 3.42 meters.
The women’s team was also successful in the field with the high jump. Julia Wager ’20 placed first for St. Lawrence with a jump of 1.47 meters.
The Saints won the five-team meet by winning 12 of 18 events with a total of 346 points. SUNY Plattsburgh was second with 128 points. St. Lawrence hosts another meet next Saturday.