Track and Field Solid Yet Again
2 min readBy WESLEY HOST
The Mary Washington track and field team competed in the Washington and Lee Carnival this past weekend in Lexington, Va. The Carnival included over 10 teams from around the nation.
They conditions were far from perfect with the temperature in the 40’s. It was “good for the middle distance runners but not ideal for sprinters,” head coach Stan Soper said.
On the women’s side, freshman Jessica Jordan finished seventh and junior Nicole Ditto finished eighth in the 100 meter dash. Ditto also finished fourth in the 200-meter dash. In the 400-meter dash, freshman Kelsey Carter finished sixth, closely followed by senior Stacy Keser, who took seventh. One of the best individual performances was senior Sarah Dawes, who finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.62
On the field, senior Amanda Zapata competed in the javelin, the discus and the hammer throw finishing sixth, 13th and 24th respectively.
On the men’s side, sophomore Matt Shaughnessy finished seventh in the 800-meters. Freshman Dalton Echard finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles and ninth in the 110-meter hurdles. Sophomore Greg Lesnewich finished 10th in the 400-meter hurdles.
On the field junior John Lilly tied for second in the high jump with a height of 1.78 meters. Senior Carl Syverud finished seventh in the pole vault, sophomore Nathaniel Saint-Preux finished fifth in the triple jump, and senior Sean Herlihy finished fourth in the javelin throw. Senior Matt Geller finished fifth in a multitude of events, as he placed in that spot in the shot put, the discus throw and the hammer throw.
In the 4X100 meter relay, Mary Washington placed eighth with a 44.56 performance from Issac Hayes, Daniel Piccolo, Tony Rodriguez and Dalton Echard.
“It was a very good meet with excellent competition,” Soper said. Competing against all non-conference opponents was beneficial for the team, who begins Conference play this Saturday in York, Pa. “The whole season is pretty much building up to conference championships,” Soper said.
“Our overall success requires total participation from all events and I am confident in the team’s ability to perform at top levels in the next month leading up to conferences,” junior John Lilly said.
The Eagles want to make a statement early and establish themselves as the team to beat in the Capital Athletic Conference. The championships don’t start until the end of May, which means there is plenty of time for the Eagles to improve.
“We have to keep working hard keep our nose to the grindstone, stay healthy and get [others] healthy,” Soper said.
