ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy track and field team had a big first day at the Patriot League Indoor Championships on Saturday at the Wesley A. Brown Field House. Both the men's and women's teams built strong leads, with the men scoring 77 points through five events and the women scoring 89 through six.
Brahmir Vick and
Jia Anderson highlighted the first day of action by breaking the Patriot League Indoor Championship meet record in the men's and women's 60m hurdles, while six Mids won the gold medal in their respective events. Additionally, the Mids ended with 15 top-10 program times/marks.
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"The goal is always to execute your event, be smooth and efficient. We had a lot of athletes score some crucial points for us today," said Director of Track and Field / Cross Country
Jamie Cook. "We have a plan to get everyone to execute at their very best. We had a lot of athletes qualify for finals which is something you need in order to continue to score points. The key heading into tomorrow is just to control what we can control on a daily basis. We need to rest and recover tonight so we're ready to go tomorrow. I loved the atmosphere we had today. The kids loved all the support they had in the building today, and I encourage everyone to come back out tomorrow for the finals."
Men's Day One Standings
1. Navy - 77 points
2. Army - 53.5 points
3. Bucknell - 18 points
4. Boston - 14 points
5. Lehigh - 12.5 points
6. Colgate - 10 points
7. American - 5 points
8. Holy Cross - 3 points
9. Lafayette - 2 points
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Men's Recap
Navy ended day one with 77 points in the five scored events to jump out to first place with wins in the pole vault and 5,000m. Navy currently holds a 23.5 point lead over Army, who stands in second with 53.5 points.
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Jack Haller and
Walker Rudisaile both recorded a height of 4.95m (16' 2.75") in the pole vault to score Navy 18 points. Haller claimed first place over Rudisaile for having the fewest number of attempts at the last height successfully cleared.
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Also scoring 18 points for Navy were
Sam Keeny,
Brett Brady and
Murphy Smith in the 5,000m. Keeny trailed Army's Garrett Gough heading into the final turn, but put on the jets and managed to edge him by .28 seconds to win the event. Keeny ended with a time of 14:10.00, which is the third-fastest 5,000m run in program history.
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Brady took fourth overall by knocking over seven seconds off his previous collegiate-best time, finishing in 14:18.05 to score five points. Smith also ended with a new collegiate best, posting a time of 14:24.36 to place sixth and score Navy three points.
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Navy's weight throwers were big contributors to the scoreboard with
Joshua Boamah,
Sam Kwatkosky,
Collin Greene and
Dane Vernor combining to score 22 points. Boamah placed second overall, earning eight points with the second-best distance in Navy's record book at 20.42m (67' 0"). His throw is the farthest mark by a Mid since 1973 and the ninth of at least 20.00m in Navy history. Kwatkosky scored six points for Navy with a throw of 19.64m (64' 5.25") to place third, and Greene posted a collegiate-best distance of 19.53m (64' 1") to place fourth for five points. Vernor's collegiate-best mark of 18.70m (61' 4.25") was the sixth-best throw at the meet to give Navy an additional three points.
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Aidan Featherby and
Caden Dailey attained 13 points for Navy in the long jump. Featherby scored eight points with a second-place finish, jumping a distance of 7.50m (24" 7.25"), which stands as the second-best long jump in Navy history. His jump is only the second of at least 7.50m in Navy history and fell just .04m short of the Patriot League Indoor Championship meet record. Dailey's jump of 7.29m (23' 11") placed fourth overall, earning Navy another five points.
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Capping off the scoring was Navy's 4x800m relay team of
Matt Newell,
Ian Bartlett,
Carson Sloat and
Alex Rizzo. The squad recorded the ninth-fastest 4x800m relay time in Navy history, clocking in a time of 7:31.22 to place third and add six points to the Mids' point total.
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Navy also had a number of athletes qualify for the finals of their respective events.
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Brahmir Vick and
Baynes Autrey both had historic times to qualify for the 60m hurdle finals. In the first heat, Autrey smoked his competition, placing first with a time of 7.88 seconds. His time was the third-fastest 60m hurdles time in Navy history and only .01 seconds off the meet record before Vick broke the meet record and recorded the second-best time in Navy's record book at 7.86 seconds.
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Nathan Kent posted a top-10 mark to qualify for the 200m finals. The freshman had the best time overall in the semifinals at 21.39 seconds, which ranks 9th all-time in program history. Also qualifying for the 200m finals were
Sethan Hollier (21.49 seconds),
Jacques Guillaume (21.59 seconds) and
Jonah Johnson (21.80 seconds).
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Johnson and Hollier joined Dailey in qualifying for the 60m dash finals. Hollier had Navy's best time of 6.93 seconds, while Johnson and Dailey posted times of 6.99 and 7.00 seconds respectively.
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Guillaume had the top performance in the 400m semifinals, posting a time of 47.88 seconds. Also qualifying for the finals were
Jonathan Simmons (48.42 seconds), Kent (48.76 seconds) and
Mike Quispe (49.75 seconds).
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Tyler Casey finished third in the 800m semifinals with a time of 1:53.58, while Bartlett (1:53.70) and Sloat (1:54.08) also recorded times to earn spots in the finale.
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Rizzo had the top mile time in his heat to qualify for the one-mile finals with a time of 4:10.93 along with
Jack Mariano, who ended with a time of 4:11.44.
Women's Day One Standings
1. Navy - 89 points
2. Army - 42.5 points
3. Boston - 38 points
4. Lehigh - 23 points
5. Holy Cross - 17 points
6. Bucknell - 10 points
7. Lafayette - 7.5 points
8. Loyola - 6 points
9. American - 1 point
10. Colgate - 0 points
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Women's Recap
The Navy women's team was the superior group on the first day, creating a 46.5-point cushion between them and second-place Army. The Mids totaled 89 points with victories in the pentathlon, long jump, weight throw and 4x800m relay.
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Annie Taylor trailed teammate
Isabella Romasko by 11 points heading into the final event of the women's pentathlon, the 800m. Romasko had the lead heading into the final lap, but Taylor managed to pass her to win the 800m pentathlon and win the indoor pentathlon with 3,666 points, the sixth-best total in Navy history. Romasko placed second with 3,632 points, which is the seventh-most scored in program history.
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The two joined
Sabrina Sokol, who placed fourth with 3,402 points, and
Sarah Perico, who finished with 3,185 points to place seventh to score 25 points towards Navy's overall team score.
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The squad of
Alex Wercinski,
McKenna Brophy,
Mia-Claire Kezal and
Ellie Abraham won Navy the gold medal in the 4x800m relay for the first time since 2011. The four combined to record the sixth-fastest time in Navy's record book at 8:59.97 to earn 10 points.
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Autumn Nicholas gave Navy a huge win to start the meet in the women's weight throw. Her top throw of the day was a collegiate-best distance of 18.72m (61' 5"), which ranks eighth in program history.
Jordynn Hutchinson scored four points in the event as well, placing fifth with a distance of 16.50m (54' 1.75").
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Molly Chapman won her first career Patriot League Indoor Championship medal after winning the long jump. The senior recorded a collegiate-best distance of 5.87m (19' 3.25"), ending with Navy's sixth-farthest long jump all-time.
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Sabrina Sutter and
Giulia Mesa also scored Navy points in the long jump. Sutter finished fourth with a jump of 5.67m (18' 7.25") to score five points, while Mesa recorded a mark of 5.58m (18' 3.75") to place sixth and score three.
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Emily Boutin earned the silver medal in the 5,000m, placing second with a time of 16:48.04, which stands as the fourth-fastest in Navy history.
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Three of Navy's pole vaulters contributed to the scoreboard.
Stephanie Jacobs and
Alayna Schloeder recorded a height of 3.80m (12' 5.5"). Jacobs placed third overall to score six points and Schloeder finished in fifth to score four. Additionally,
Elise Russell ended in sixth with a height of 3.70m (12' 1.5") to score three points.
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Highlighting Navy's qualifying performances was
Jia Anderson, who broke the women's indoor championship meet record in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.49 seconds.
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Also qualifying for the 60m hurdle finals were Romasko with a time of 8.90 seconds and Taylor with a time of 8.92 seconds.
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Molly Mangan posted the 10th best times in the 60m dash and 200m in Navy history to qualify for the finals in both races. She ended with a time of 7.64 seconds in the 60m and 24.58 in the 200m to place third in both events.
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Sutter also made the finals in the 200m with a time of 24.81 seconds, and
Mayu Gayton and Anderson qualified for the 60m finals with times of 7.66 seconds and 7.72 seconds respectively.
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Alanna Julius ran the second-fastest one-mile in the semifinals, finishing with a time of 4:52.72.
Winter Boese wasn't far behind in third with a time of 4:53.33, and
Emily Ettrich also qualified with a time of 5:01.23.
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Kayla McGuire, Wercinski and Abraham qualified for the 800m finals. McGuire ended with a new collegiate-best time of 2:11.37 to place second, and Wercinski placed third with a collegiate-best time at 2:12.43. Abraham was just .02 seconds behind Wercinski, placing fourth.
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Kylie Bedard recorded a new collegiate-best time of 56.89 seconds in the 400m to qualify for the finals along with
Annie Lemelin, who ended with a time of 57.30 seconds.
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Day two of the indoor championships resume tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., with the 60m hurdles of the heptathlon along with the men's long jump and women's shot put. The men's one-mile opens the running events at 12:10 p.m. Fans can view the full championship schedule using the schedule of events tab and links provided on NavySports.com. Fans can also watch the track finals starting at noon on ESPN+. Field events during the championship will not be streamed, but up-to-date content featuring Patriot League multimedia journalist Maria Trivelpiece will be available by following @PatriotLeagueTV on Twitter and Instagram.
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