FITCHBURG, Mass. (4/17/16) – On a windy Saturday afternoon the men's and women's track and field teams were still able to perform at their bests in the Eric Loeschner Invitational at Fitchburg State University.
Kicking the meet off was the field events led by sophomore Josh Nixon (Bloomfield, Conn.) in the jump pit. In the long jump, Nixon posted a mark of 5.38 meters, while placing 14th overall in the triple jump. In the javelin, freshman Kyle Vonick (Wethersfield, Conn.) placed 13th overall and improved his personal best to 35.07 meters, two meters better than his previous throw.
Senior Jeremy Shriber (Central Valley, N.Y.) competed in the 10,000 meter run where he finished 6th place overall. The senior ran a personal best of 36:24.41, besting the previous school record by 36 seconds. Vonick would come back from javelin and compete in the 400m race where he placed 11th overall and ran a strong time of 52.86. Next up was the 800 meters where sophomores Nick Garifalos (Spotswood, N.J.) and Troy Gonsalves (Providence, R.I.) competed. Garifalos was able to nab an 8th place finish, while Gonsalves ran a fantastic race where he worked himself up to the front pack in the final 50 meters to run a new season best by five seconds and personal best by three seconds.
In the short sprints, freshman Ben Lane (Rutland, Vt.) placed 26th out of 69 competitors in the 100 meters. In the 200, Lane was able to grab a 10th place finish in a new personal best of 23.30. In the 5000 meter run freshman Ryan Dalaba (Granville, N.Y.) took a 12th place finish. Capping off the meet for the men was the 4x800 team of Garifalos, Shriber, Vonick, and Gonsalves. The squad teamed up to run a school record time of 8:52.54 and grabbed a 6th place finish in the process.
Senior Jaime Russo (Watertown, Mass.) kicked things off for the women with the 3000 meter steeplechase on a 13 second personal best to beat her previous school record time she ran last week. Senior Melissa Cooley (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Shannon Hart (Mashpee, Mass.) competed in the 400m race, where Cooley placed 6th overall with a 61.86 while Hart made her collegiate debut in the race. Next up was the 100m which featured junior Ayumi Ranucci (Auburn, Maine) and sophomore Lauren Lenahan (Weymouth, Mass.). Ranucci placed 20th overall while Lenahan made her debut in the 100m running at 14.00. The last event on the track for the women was the 200 meter dash, which Cooley and Ranucci would come back from their first races, while junior Elizabeth Bennet (Warwick, R.I) and freshman Emmy Guzman joined them. Cooley led the charge running a 27.46, while Rannuci posted a personal best of 27.84. Bennet just missed out on her personal best by .04 seconds and Guzman also came up just shy of her PR by .1 seconds. 1.
The Lasers will be back in action next Saturday, April 23 at MIT.