The Plattsburgh State track and field team ran with the changes last weekend as one of its planned meets was cancelled due to inclement weather.
The Cardinals sent athletes to the Bronco Classic at SUNY Delhi Saturday following the cancellation of the team’s meet in Middlebury, before sending runners to the Bison Outdoor Classic at Bucknell University Sunday as planned.
Head coach Nicholas Jones was happy that his team finally got a chance to see some decent weather.
“The athletes were excited to compete with the sun shining a bit,” Jones said. “We had some improvements since our first meet, which is what we were looking for, so I think it went pretty well.”
The Broncos classic was kind to PSUC, with strong finishers coming from both the men and women.
The women saw numerous underclassmen finish well, with some veterans added into the mix.
Seniors Lindsey Davenport and Stephanie Boucher ran sixth place in the 1500-meter and second place in the 400-meter dash respectively to earn the Cards nine points between them.
“Everyone dealt with [the schedule change] really well,” Davenport said. “We saw some really good performances.”
Sophomores Kristina Watrobski, Elisabeth Plympton and Taylor Canet and freshmen Jasmine Roberts and Janyll Barber all scored points in their respective events
Watrobski finished first in the 1500-meters and ninth in the 800-meters for 11 total points, Plymptom ran a 12.48-second time in the 100-meter dash for second place and eight points, and Canet hurdled her way to six points and a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles.
Roberts earned PSUC eight points with a second-place finish in the five-kilometer race, while Barber leaped to a second-place finish in the triple-jump for eight points.
For the men, junior John Weed won the 3000-meter steeplechase for 10 points while classmate William Lindau took seventh and senior Stephen Schnalzer earned four points, finishing in fourth.
The quartet of junior Brian Fabian, freshman Jordan Kane, sophomore Anthony Ciccarelli and senior Sobaan Ayub won the 4×100-meter relay to earn 10 points for the Cards. Kane also finished second in the 110-meter hurdles to snag PSUC eight points.
“I was pretty excited because I knew the weather was going to be better at SUNY Delhi, and we made the best of what we got,” Kane said.
Ciccarelli took fourth in the 110-meter hurdles, while Fabian ran second in the 400-meter dash.
Jones was happy that the team saw the competition at Delhi instead of Middlebury.
“There was probably a little more depth because there was only really going to be four teams at Middlebury, and we had about three or four times that at Delhi, so it worked out pretty well,” Jones said.
The Cards sent a small all-female contingent to the Bison Outdoor Classic Sunday.
Boucher and Davenport finished 11th and 65th respectively in the 800-meter event out of a pool of 128 runners.
Boucher’s time qualified her for the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference meet.
Plympton finished 11th out of 62 runners in the 100-meter dash, Barber finished 19th out of 36 runners in the 400-meter hurdles and senior Ashlee Estes finished 35th out of 49 runners in the 400-meter.
Jones was pleased with the results his runners got at a meet that included numerous Division I and II opponents.
“The few athletes we brought to that meet did very well,” Jones said.
Boucher’s efforts earned her SUNYAC Female Track Athlete of the Week honors, with her 800-meter time standing as the best Division III time at the event, as well as the top current time in the SUNYAC.
Davenport also received her own accolade April 11, being one of three PSUC students who earned the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award For Student Excellence.
The award is given to students that maintain a high level of academic performance while balancing it with other aspects of their lives like athletics, campus involvement and community leadership.
Davenport was honored to receive the award last Tuesday.
“It meant a lot,” Davenport said. “I felt like I was representing the team and the school of Plattsburgh as a whole.”
Next the Cards will compete in the Cortland Classic tomorrow and Sunday at SUNY Cortland where they will have to once again deal with less than desirable weather with high temperatures forecasted in the 40s both days.
“It’s what it always is,” Jones said. “There’s not much we can do about it. Hopefully it clears up by SUNYAC time.”
Email Ben Watson at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
