Feb. 22, 2009
Complete Results
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Senior team captain Andrew Grant (Athens, Ga.) led a stellar final day effort by the Midshipmen's distance contingent as the Navy men's track team finished in third place at the 2009 Patriot League Indoor Championships on Sunday at the Wesley A. Brown Field House
Army captured its third indoor crown in the last four years, leading all teams with 188 points, followed by Bucknell's 129 points and Navy's 103 points. Lehigh placed fourth with 93 points, while Lafayette and American finished with 48 and 40 points, respectively. Colgate took seventh with 12 points and Holy Cross rounded out the eight-team field with seven points.
Navy has now placed among the top-three schools in each of its last six appearances at the indoor league championship meet.
"Our middle-distance and distance groups really carried us today," said Navy head coach Stephen Cooksey. "We got some prized points here and there, we didn't get as many in some places where I had hoped we would, but overall I thought we finished up right where I thought we would. For the team that we have this year, as inexperienced as we are, I was pretty happy with our results."
Grant won his first career individual league title with a career-best mile effort and then came back to earn runner-up honors in both the 1,000m and as part of Navy's distance medley relay foursome to highlight the Mids' efforts on the third and final day of the conference meet.
"Andrew Grant was incredible," added Cooksey. "He ran the 1,000m, the 4x800m, the mile and then he ran the mile in the DMR. Now, that's a lot of racing over the last three days. We don't take second in each of those relays without him in there really getting after it. Andrew just did a tremendous job for us."
The Athens, Ga. native kicked off Sunday's action in exciting fashion as the 1-2 punch of himself and freshman Dominic Della Pelle (Kennett Square, Pa.) swept the mile to collect 18 points for the Mids. Grant paced the mile field his PR time of 4:11.35 topping his previous career-best effort of 4:11.69, which he established as a sophomore against Army on Feb. 3, 2007.
Meanwhile, Della Pelle, who made the initial move for the Mids in the mile with about 175 meters left to race past Army's Alexis Torre-Santiago, the top-seed coming into the race (4:08.28), collected runner-up honors in second with a 4:11.58 clocking.
The distance duo were also major contributors in the 1,000-meter run, where Grant placed second (2:27.76) and Della Pelle was fourth (2:29.17), and in the DMR where they teamed up with freshmen Ken Bunnell (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) and Lucas Connelly(Lee's Summit, Mo.) to take second in a time of 10:11.74.
Navy's second individual league champion of the day and third of the weekend was sophomore Andrew Hanko (Montville, N.J.), who collected top honors in the 3,000m with a winning effort of 8:19.33. Hanko's time eclipsed his previous 3K personal-record of 8:15.58 set at the Iowa State Classic a year ago on February 16.
It was his first individual conference title and his second career all-league certificate (Hanko was the runner-up in the 5,000m at last year's PL outdoor meet). Senior Nick Crowell (Olalla, Wash.) also scored for the Mids in the event, claiming fourth-place honors in 8:29.78.
The Navy 4x400m quartet of junior Evan Sisung (Munford, Tenn.), sophomore David Ash (Williamston, Mich.) and freshmen Alexander Jackson (Elmhurst, Ill.) and George Stevenson (Twinsburg, Ohio) closed out the three-day championships by taking second in a team season-best time of 3:20.98.
The Mids also received point-scoring efforts from Sisung in the 500m with a sixth-place, IC4A and PR clocking of 1:05.00, and both Stevenson and Ash in the 800m with fourth and sixth-place finishes in 1:55.95 and 1:56.41, respectively.
The Navy men will next head to Boston for the IC4A Championship on March 7-8.
2009 Patriot League Men's Indoor Track & Field ChampionshipsMen's Final Team Standings1. Army 1882. Bucknell 1293. Navy 1034. Lehigh 935. Lafayette 486. American 407. Colgate 128. Holy Cross 7
Team Champions ArmyTrack Athlete of the Meet Brandon Thurman, ArmyField Performer of the Meet: Drew Fitzgerald, BucknellRookie of the Meet: Michael Hutchins, ArmyCoach of the Year: Troy Engle, ArmyScholar-Athlete of the Year: Mark Van Orden, Navy
Navy HonoreesFirst-Team All-Patriot LeagueAndrew Grant - Mile run (4:11.35)Andrew Hanko - 3,000m (8:19.33)Mark Van Orden - 35-lb. weight throw (18.85m)
Second-Team All-Patriot LeagueDavid Ash - 4x400m (3:20.98), 4x800m (7:37.80)Chris Bordino - 35-lb. weight throw (18.64m)Ken Bunnell - DMR (10:11.74)Lucas Connelly - DMR (10:11.74)Dominic Della Pelle - Mile run (4:11.58), 4x800m (7:37.80), DMR (10:11.74)Andrew Grant - 1,000m (2:27.76), 4x800m (7:37.80), DMR (10:11.74)Alexander Jackson - 4x400m (3:20.98)Cody Rome - 4x800m (7:37.80)Evan Sisung - 4x400m (3:20.98)George Stevenson - 4x400m (3:20.98)
### GO NAVY! ###
