BOSTON, Mass. - The Navy women's track and field team ended the first day of the Patriot League Indoor Championship at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Mass., in second place with 67 points.
The Mids trail first-place Boston (70 points) by just three points through six of the 18 events.
Navy concluded the opening day of the championship with victories in the pole vault, pentathlon and 4x800m relay.
Patriot League Women's Indoor Championship Day One Standings
1. Boston University (70 points)
2. Navy (67 points)
3. Army (41 points)
4. Bucknell (27 points)
5. Holy Cross (9.5 points)
6. Lehigh (8 points)
7. American (5 points)
7. Lafayette (5 points)
9. Colgate (1 point)
10. Loyola (0 points)
"Emily's (Boutin) grit and leadership ability to pace the 5,000m and finish strong was impressive. Her time would have been a school record a few weeks ago and she had a really great performance. Ending the meet with a win in the 4x800m relay was very big going into tomorrow," said Director of Track and Field / Cross Country
Jamie Cook. "Our two pole vaulters,
Alayna Schloeder and
Gracie Emerick, both had historic performances. Can't talk enough about coach (Rory) Quiller. His athletes always come through in the pole vault and both the men's and women's groups scored important points today.
"Also, a huge day for coach (Chris) Johnson with the pentathlon group sweeping the podium. He has been a major addition to that group and it showed again with us scoring big in that event. Annie (Taylor) and Isabella (Romasko) not only did great in the pentathlon, but also qualified for the 60m hurdles. That's really tough to do and huge credit to those two individuals and others for handling what we asked of them."
Alayna Schloeder scored 10 points and added her name to the Patriot League record book by winning the pole vault. The senior broke the school and meet record with a height of 4.10m (13' 5.25"). Schloeder broke
Charlene Morke's school record by .02m, which she posted in 2020. Her mark bested the previous meet record set by Lehigh's Laura Reigle at last year's championship by .05m.
Freshman
Gracie Emerick also had a career day in the pole vault. She placed second in the event by tying the fifth-best height in team history at 4.00m (13' 1.5"). Her finish added eight points to the scoreboard.
The Mids swept the podium in the pentathlon and totaled 25-points scored from the event.
Annie Taylor repeated as the pentathlon champion with a score of 3,648 points. Her point total ranks eighth all-time in program history. Navy's indoor captain placed first in the 60m hurdles (8.74), shot put (10.12m / 33' 2.5") and long jump (5.43m / 17' 9.75").
Sabrina Sokol claimed the silver medal by placing second with a score of 3,515 points.
Isabella Romasko earned the additional spot on the podium by scoring 3,406 points to place third.
Sarah Perico also scored in the pentathlon. She finished in eighth place with a score of 3,126 points.
Mayu Gayton (5.44m / 17' 10.25") and
Giulia Mesa (5.38m / 17' 8") combined to score four points in the long jump by placing sixth and eighth, respectively.
Jordynn Hutchinson was the lone mid to compete in the weight throw. She ended in sixth place with a distance of 17.46m (57' 3.5") to score three points.
Navy ended the first day of the championship with a big victory in the 4x800m relay. The squad of
Alex Wercinski,
McKenna Brophy,
Kayla McGuire and
Ellie Abraham clocked in a winning time of 8:55.81 to provide 10 points. The time is the third-fastest finish in school history.
Navy scored seven points in the 5,000m.
Emily Boutin led the way with a third-place effort to score six points. She recorded a time of 16:12.78, which ranks second in team history.
Olivia Lutkevich took eighth place in the 5,000m with a time of 17:12.53 to score an additional point.
The remainder of the track events were qualifying races for the finals on Sunday.
Jia Anderson qualified for the finals in the 60m hurdles, 60m and 200m. She clocked in a time of 8.62 to finish in second place in the 60m hurdles. Additionally, Anderson placed fourth in the 60m and eighth in the 200m with times of 7.64 and 24.95, respectively.
Gayton qualified for the 60m finals as well by tying the 10th-best finish in team history (7.72) to place third in the race.
Taylor and Romasko will join Anderson in the 60m hurdle finals tomorrow. The duo both posted a time of 8.82 to place fifth and sixth, respectively.
Sophia Richter and
Annie Lemelin will represent the Mids in the 200m and 400m finals. Richter placed second in the 400m with a time of 55.61. The freshman also took fifth place in the 200m with a time of 24.84. Lemelin finished in fourth place in both the 200m (24.75) and 400m (55.74).
Taylor Woodworth set a top-10 time to place first in the 400m. She clocked in a winning time of 54.92, which is the fifth-fastest finish in program history.
Also qualifying for the 400m finals was
Kylie Bedard. She crossed the finish line in 56.41 to place seventh overall.
Sophie Compton qualified for the one-mile championship with a third-place effort. She posted the eight-best mile time in school history at 4:50.23.
Mia-Claire Kezal (4:55.09) also earned a spot in the finals thanks to a sixth-place outing.
Prior to their big win in the 4x800m relay, Abraham and McGuire both qualified for the 800m finals. Abraham took third place with a time of 2:11.49. McGuire finished right behind Abraham in fourth place with a time of 2:11.67.
Day two of the indoor championship will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. Fans can view the full meet schedule with links provided on NavySports.com(.)
Track events for the meet will be streamed on ESPN+ on
HERE. The field events won't be streamed, but up-to-date content featuring Patriot League multimedia journalist Maria Trivelpiece will be available by following @PatriotLeagueTV on Instagram.
Fans can also follow along with free live results
HERE.
"Everything at the end of the day is for the team. We are trying to qualify as many athletes as we can and score points," added Cook. "Although everyone has their individual goals, the entire group is focused most on what the team goal is and that's winning the meet. The big thing going into tomorrow is conserving our energy. We feel good on both sides, but tomorrow is the real day and we need to be ready to go on all levels."
