By Carley Crain
@carley_crain12
The Springfield College men’s and women’s track teams competed against their first NEWMAC opponent in over a year on Saturday afternoon when they hosted WPI. In the second meet of the year, many student-athletes came away with new personal records and victories.
“I think people learned how to compete this meet, ” said head coach Mike Miller. “People brought a different competition sense, preparing and warming up differently. It was more of people wanting to compete and getting on the other side of competition rather than waiting for something to happen and trying to react.”
The afternoon kicked off with the 4×100 relay, where the men took the win in a time of 42.38 seconds. A string of distance events were next, including the 5000 and 1500 meter. Sophomore John Derosa had the best finish for the Pride in the men’s 5000m, where he came away with a season best of 16:18. On the women’s side, senior Rachel Wentnick ran a new personal record, coming away with a 19:00 flat.
For the 1500m distance, junior Russell Allen finished 3rd for the Pride, running a 4:13. For the women, first-year Sophie Curcio placed the highest for Springfield, placing third with her time of 5:19.
Up next was the short hurdles, where Emily LaPlante, a senior, took the win on the women’s side. Another senior, Damian Mackay-Morgan, finished third in a new personal best of 14.92 seconds.
In the 400 meter dash, sophomores continued to shine as Emma Raccaro took her second straight win running a 1:02. Luke Chastain and Thomas Czerwinski finished 1st and 2nd on the men’s side, running 50.98 and 51.26 seconds respectively.
Moving on to the 100 meter dash, Springfield swept the top five and was led by senior Benjamin Batoosingh. On the women’s side, Sydney Fackrell placed the highest as she finished in second.
Sophomore Rece Gobel won the 800 for the second week in a row and his classmate, Brenna LaChapelle, placed fourth in the women’s 800.
Sophomore Tyler Olds ran a season best and took the win in the 400 meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 1:01.50.
In the 200 meter dash, the Pride swept the top 3 spots on the men’s side, highlighted by Tyler Hanson’s 22.23. Fackrell once again shined in the 200 for the women, placing second overall in a time of 25.99.
First-year Kate Bonanno ran her first ever college 3000 meter steeplechase and finished in third with a time of 12:28.
The running events finished up with the 4×400 and 4×800 meter relays. The men and women both swept the 4×800 relays and the women placed second in the 4×400 relay with a time of 4:15.
For the field events, sophomore Jamie Cocca once again took the win in the discus, shot put, and hammer throw. Christa Carr had the highest finishes in the throwing events for the Pride, as she placed second in the women’s shot put, 4th in the discus, and third in the hammer throw.
Sophomores Matlyn Gross and Colby Wilson continued to shine in the jumping events. Gross finished first in the triple jump and second in the long jump while Wilson jumped 6.79 meters to take the win in the men’s long jump. Senior Caroline Hitchcock continued to impress in the women’s high jump, as she placed first with her jump of 1.58 meters. Emily Racana took the win for the second week in a row in the women’s pole vault, while Daniel Criscio took his second college win in the javelin. Caitlin Bacon threw 87-04 in the javelin for a new career best.
“We match up very well with WPI. It is going to become a showdown when it comes to the conference championship. This was a sneak preview of that”, explained Miller.
The Pride will host Wheaton next weekend at home before heading into the championship season.
Photo Courtesy of Jack Margaros