PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Navy track and field teams battled through difficult weather conditions on Saturday at the Penn Challenge at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The meet did not have team scoring.
 
The Mids placed first in nine events and posted 11 IC4A / ECAC qualifying times / marks.
 
"Today was a great opportunity to continue to prepare for some of our upcoming meets. We saw a lot of good teams at this meet and experiences like this in harsh weather are part of the process of development. I think everyone came out of this meet excited about where we are," said Director of Track and Field / Cross Country Jamie Cook. "It was very good for our distance group to get some experience outdoors. It's very tough when the weather is the way it was, but they did a great job of executing their race plans. Really important for them to gain some confidence going into the rest of the season. Anytime you win a race you know you're doing something right. When you have days like today, you aren't worried about times or marks. Your focus is on competing and giving a great effort. We didn't have our full team compete today, but the athletes that did performed well and did what we asked of them. This meet was also valuable to give some of our athletes a first look at Franklin Field, where we'll be competing at again later in the season for the Penn Relays."
 
The trio of Tyler Yurich, Nico Gonzalez-Reed and Simon Alexander highlighted the 100m. Yurich led the group with a second-place finish by recording an IC4A qualifying time of 10.82. Gonzalez-Reed (10.87) and Alexander (10.92) also posted qualifying times to place third and fourth, respectively.
 
Yurich also had the top placement in the 200m. He finished third overall with a qualifying time of 22.02.
 
Taylor Woodworth garnered a second-place effort in the 200m for the women's team with a time of 24.97.
 
Pete deJonge claimed the lone victory for the Mids in the individual sprint events. He crossed the finish line in 49.60 to win the 400m.
 
Annie Lemelin placed first in the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles with a time of 14.68 and 1:05.43, respectively.
 
Morgan Blackford finished behind Lemelin in second place in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:05.99.
 
Navy took first and second place in the women's 4x400m relay. The squad of Milana Breuninger, Sabrina Sokol, Sarah Perico and Blackford clocked in a winning time of 3:59.95. Brooke Magistrelli, Susannah Heinz, Kayla McGuire and Alex Wercinski combined to post a time of 4:16.68 to place second.
 
Multiple distance runners saw their first action of the outdoor season in Philadelphia.
 
Sam Keeny won the 3,000m steeplechase by recording a qualifying time of 9:11.09. Ben Countiss (second place) and Sean Miller (third place) finished right behind Keeny with times of 9:18.22 and 9:18.95, respectively.
 
The women's team also swept the 3,000m steeplechase. Ellie Abraham placed first in the race with an ECAC qualifying time of 10:42.20. Olivia Lutkevich completed the race in 10:57.40 to earn second place. Mia-Claire Kezal took third place with a time of 11:06.60.
 
Luke Nester ended in first place in the men's 1,500m with a qualifying time of 3:52.93. Garrett Baublitz also clocked in a qualifying time of 3:54.41 to place third.
 
Sophie Compton didn't miss a beat in her second 1,500m race this season. After winning the event last week at the Ross and Sharon Irwin Invitational, she took second place in Philadelphia with a qualifying time of 4:33.06.
 
Emily Boutin saw her first action of the outdoor season in the 1,500m. She finished in sixth place with a time of 4:37.18.
 
Greyson Gravitt posted the top performance in the 800m. He placed second in the race with a time of 1:52.84.
 
Max Girardet (third place) and Jackson Nguyen (fifth place) both finished in the top five in the 3,000m with times of 8:33.51 and 8:35.46, respectively.
 
Caroline Harding ran the 3,000m in 10:00.58 to take fourth place in the women's race.  
 
Joshua Boamah recorded a top throw of 14.42m (47' 3.75") in the shot put to win the event. Additionally, the senior placed third in the discus (43.23m / 141' 10") and ended in a tie for fourth place in the hammer throw (50.38m / 165' 3") with teammate Collin Greene.
 
Dane Vernor finished second overall in the hammer throw with a qualifying distance of 58.29m (191' 3").
 
Paul Kowalchick garnered a second-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 13.99m (45' 10.75").
 
Renny Murphy highlighted the throwing events for the women's team. She won the javelin with a qualifying distance of 42.99m (141' 0").
 
Jordynn Hutchinson placed third in the shot put (11.44m / 37' 6.5"), discus (36.56m / 119' 11") and hammer throw (46.38m / 152' 2").
 
The Mids will play host to the Navy Outdoor Invitational next Saturday for their first home meet of the outdoor campaign. The meet will begin at 10 a.m. at Ingram Field.