The Plattsburgh state track and field team won six events in the State University of New York Athletic Conference championship hosted by Houghton College last Saturday. The women’s team finished third and the men’s team finished seventh.
Junior Elisabeth Plympton came in first for both the 60-meter and the 200-meter, with the time of 7.85 and 25.65 respectively.
Freshman Marissa Jones came in first for the 400-meter with the time of 58.76. For the women’s mile, junior Kristina Watrobski came in second with the time of 5:14.55.
The Cardinals also won the women’s distance medley relay with the time of 12:41.50. Junior Brianna Coon won the women’s shot put.
“I’m glad that my teammates, the women’s DMR, won,” Plympton said. “Marissa won. She’s my roommate, so we had our cute moment cause me and her were both on the podium for the 200 [meters].”
For the men’s team, Brian Fabian came in first for the 400-meter with the time of 50.26. The team of sophomore Luke Groves, freshman Tyler Martin, senior Adam Whitehead and sophomore Andrew Horan came in second for the distance medley relay.
“It’s good to continue to have some standouts and get some recognition in the conference,” track and field head coach Nick Jones said about Plympton and John O’Connor being awarded athlete of the week honors by SUNYAC.
Last week was the third time Plympton has been awarded the title in her career.
“Obviously I’m grateful,” Plympton said. “It means a lot to get that even once, let alone three times, but I still have work to do, and I still have to run faster times so I have one more chance and I’m excited.”
Jones is looking to have solid performances and improvements for the upcoming regional championship. The Atlantic Regional (AARTFC) Championship will be held this Friday and Saturday in Ithaca.
“For the past five weeks, on the women’s side, we have broken a school record every single weekend,” Jones said. “That was tremendous. We have never had that happened before.”
The qualified athletes for the National championship will be announced by this Sunday. After the National championship, the team will be taking a short break before getting into training for outdoor track.
“I was not all-american in outdoor, so I guess that would be my next goal to be an all-american in outdoor, since I can’t say that I am yet.” Plympton said when asked about her expectations for the upcoming spring season. She also believes that there is always work to do and room to be better.
“This has been a really successful year,” Jones said, “but we’re continuing to grow and build, and we want to be even bigger and better next year.”
