Exciting Performances at Bison Open
This weekend both teams competed at the 19th Annual Bison Open, hosted by Division I Bucknell University. The meet was a 2-day event, starting on Friday afternoon and ending Saturday night. It was a highly competitive meet with the team going up against Division I and Division II schools, along with some very good Division III teams. With the level of competition, the meet had standards for each event and because of that we were limited to the number of student-athletes we could enter in the meet. We had 6 women competing in individual events along with one relay; while we took 16 men in individual events and one relay.
In the Hurdles:
Erin Early competed in her second meet of the Indoor season – finishing in 19th place with a season best time of 10.02.
Samantha Gittere ran a career-best in the hurdle event with a time of 10.22. Her previous PR was 10.39, which she ran at the first meet of the season back in early December. She finished 21st out of 32 competitors.
In the Jumps:
Collin Schultz had his best jump of the season – clearing a height of 1.89 meters (6’ 2.25”) on his second attempt. He went for an ECAC qualifying height of 1.94 meters (6’4.25”) but knocked the bar down on his three attempts. He finished 7th overall.
Freshman Kevon Adams finished in 5th place in the long jump. His first jump of 6.49 meters (21’ 3.5”) was his best jump of the day.
Shamar Nelson just missed out on the finals in the long jump, finishing in 9th place. His furthest jump came on his last attempt of the prelims – jumping a distance of 6.35 meters (20’ 10”).
Sophomore Christian Healey took 9th place in the triple jump with a distance of 13.32 meters (43’ 8.5”).
In the Sprints:
Destiny Logan ran season best times in both the 200 meter and 400 meter dashes. On Friday evening, she competed in the trials of the 200 meter dash where she finished 41st out of 75 runners. Her time was a 27.72 – about 0.20 off her PR. Logan came back on Saturday afternoon in the 400 meters with a time of 1:02.82. She took 32nd out of 60 competitors. Her time in the 400m has her ranked 6th in the CAC and 20th in the Mideast region.
Kayla Truesdel competed in the 60 meter and 200 meter dashes. She had impressive runs in both events – running a season best in the 200m and running .01 off her season best in the 60m. Truesdel ran the trials of the 200m on Friday evening – sprinting to the finish line with the fastest time (25.88) and qualifying for the finals. Truesdel returned to action Saturday morning in the 60m trials, running the 3rd best time (7.89) out of all competitors which qualified her for the finals. She came back in the finals with a better time of 7.86 and finished in 4th place overall. After the 60m dash, Truesdel ran the finals of the 200 meters and ran her fastest time of the season – 25.87 – and taking 1st place. The second place woman crossed the finish line 0.33 seconds after Truesdel. After this weekend, Truesdel is ranked in the top-15 in the nation in both her events: 9th in the 60m and 12th in the 200m.
5 men competed in the 60m dash
Shamar Nelson had the best finish of the day in the 60 meter dash. He finished in 12th place overall with a PR of 7.20.
6 men competed in the 200m dash
Malik Harris ran an Indoor 200m PR of 24.53.
Senior Hossein Hakimi ran a PR in the Indoor 200m (23.42).
3 men competed in the 400m dash
Freshman Tyriek Charles took 1st in his heat with a time of 54.15 (a PR of over one second).
Hossein Hakimi ran a season best of 53.18 after taking 1st in his heat and 28th overall (out of 59 runners).
Freshman Devante Mills ran a PR of 54.01 (surpassing his previous PR by over a second).
The men’s 4x400 meter relay of Mills, Charles, Kevin McCarthy, and Hakimi ran a season best of 3:36.20. They finished 13th out of 19 relay teams.
In the throws:
Donovan Burriss missed finals in the shot put by just 2 places – finishing in 10th place with a career-best throw of 13.29 meters (43’ 7.25”). He threw his best throw on his first attempt of the competition.
Standout performances:
Sophomore Robbie Romano had an exciting run in the mile. It was his first mile of the indoor season – and it was an impressive start. Romano started strong in the race and he just kept pushing all the way to the finish line…with his teammates encouraging him around the track. He won his heat – finishing about five seconds ahead of the second runner. Romano crossed the finish line with an Indoor PR of 4:27.50 (just TWO seconds away from the ECAC qualifying standard). Out of 52 runners, he placed 12th overall (only 5 other Division III runners finished ahead of him). This time places Romano 6th in the CAC and 21st in the Mideast region.
The meet ended on an exciting note for our women’s 4x400 meter relay. They were in section one of two – with a total of 14 relay teams competing. Destiny Logan was the leadoff runner for our women, starting off strong before handing off the baton to freshman, Keileen Estrada. Estrada kept the momentum going until giving the baton to teammate Sam Gittere. Gittere hung on to 4th place in the race and fought all the way to the exchange zone before handing off to Kayla Truesdel. Truesdel grabbed the baton and took off. By about the 250 meter mark, Truesdel had run down the team ahead of them and taken over third place in the heat. The women ran a season best time of 4:13.12 – taking 3rd in their heat and 7th overall (only 2 teams that finished ahead of our women were Division III). The ladies time currently ranks them 1st in the CAC and 4th in the Mideast region.
Season Bests:
Erin Early – 60m hurdles – 10.02
Hossein Hakimi – 400m – 53.18
Destiny Logan – 200m – 27.72
Destiny Logan – 400m – 1:02.82
Collin Schultz – HJ – 1.89m/6’ 2.25”
Kayla Truesdel – 200m – 25.87
PRs:
Donovan Burriss – Indoor Shot Put (13.26m/43’6” – 13.29m/43’7.25”)
Tyriek Charles – Indoor 400m (55.86 – 54.15)
Samantha Gittere – 60m hurdles (10.39 – 10.22)
Hossein Hakimi – Indoor 200m (23.47 – 23.42)
Malik Harris – Indoor 200m (24.57 – 24.53)
Devante Mills – Indoor 400m (55.42 – 54.01)
Shamar Nelson – 60m dash (7.22 – 7.20)
Robbie Romano – Indoor Mile (4:33.20 – 4:27.50)
Coach Luy’s Top-10:
Robbie Romano – 2nd in Indoor Mile (4:27.50)
Donovan Burriss – 4th in Shot Put (13.29m/43’ 7.25”)
Samantha Gittere – 5th in 60m hurdles (10.22)
Shamar Nelson – 8th in 60m dash (7.20)
Hossein Hakimi – 10th in 200m dash (23.42)
The majority of the track & field teams return to action Friday afternoon at Susquehanna University. The field events start at 4pm with the women’s weight throw and long jump, while the running events start at 4:30pm with the women’s 60M hurdles. Due to limitations in events at Susquehanna and the opportunity for a couple of our athletes to compete in a pentathlon, we will be sending a handful of our athletes to Ursinus College for the Frank Colden Invitational on Saturday.
