The Plattsburgh State men’s team finished fifth out of nine teams, marked the best finishes in a conference meet since the 2006 SUNYAC Championship, where the Cardinals finished third, while the women’s track and field team’s 4×400-meter relay and senior Brianna Coon set the new program record, aiding the team in placing fourth out of eight teams.
“It was a great way to end the last event with the school record for the women’s 4×400,” head coach Nick Jones said.
Senior Elisabeth Plympton, junior Janyll Barber, senior Taylor Canet and graduate student Kallie Villemaire finished third for the 4×400-meter relay, with the time of 3:59.19, edging the previous record set by Jennifer Risler, Amy McCasland, Joanne TeRiele and Mahalia Ewers in 2011, 3:59.25.
“We were really excited. We’ve been trying to go for that all season and to finally get it, especially on a flat track is really exciting,” Villemaire said. “We keep improving every time we run it, so I’m excited to see what we can do this weekend.”
Villemaire also said she was nervous for the championship as this is her first SUNYAC Championships with the track and field team and it affected her performance in the 400-meter dash, where she placed seventh with the time of 1:03.29.
“It’s nothing I could have controlled in the finals. [I was] definitely nervous, but it was a good experience,” Villemaire said.
Coon placed third for weight throw and broke her own program record for the second time. She recorded the mark of 15.69 meters (51’ 5.75”) and topped the 15.29 meters record set in 2018.
For the 800-meter run, Canet and sophomore Aislyn McDonough finished third and fifth, with the times of 2:20.54 and 2:25.93 respectively. Plympton placed sixth in both the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, with the times of 7.97 and 26.69 respectively.
Senior Anthony Ciccarelli came in second for the heptathlon by just six points with a score of 4,591. For all the components in heptathlon, Ciccarelli topped the shot put, came in second for the 60-meter dash, the 1,000-meter run and the 60-meter hurdles, finished third in the pole vault and tied for fifth in the high jump.
“[I] was a little disappointed that I got second by six points but [I] gave it my all and couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ciccarelli said.
Ciccarelli also said it was mentally challenging for him as he had a rough season with injuries and not meeting his expectations, but he performed in the SUNYAC Championships and the mistakes he made started to flip.
Freshman Jared Davidson came in third and fifth for the 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash, with the time of 22.28 and 50.24, respectively. Freshman Brendyn Marrero finished third for the 60-meter dash with the time of 7.08 while senior Andrew Horan came in eighth for the 800-meter run.
The team of freshman Cameron Aviles, Marrero, freshman Brexton Montville and Davidson came in fourth for the 4×400-meter relay, with the time of 3:25.75.
Ciccarelli said the team finishing fifth solidifies the team’s hard work. The team did not believe in it, but now the team sees its ability.
Jones said 16 athletes, seven from the men’s team and nine from the women’s team, will be attending the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC). The team focused on recovery with a fast and light workout before traveling to Rochester yesterday for the AARTFC Championships.
For the athletes not attending the AARTFC championships, they will still be training to prepare for the outdoor season before going into spring break, where they will get a break but also receive general workout routines from the coach.
Villemaire is excited for the NCAA Championships and is hoping to do her best and have fun with it. Ciccarelli said he is not putting any pressure or standards for himself this week as it can be tough to compete two weekends in a row.
“You can never really have too big of an expectation. You just got to go in there saying, ‘I’m gonna do my best,’” Ciccarelli said.
Jones also said the team usually has jumping performances as the team is going against good competition and is well prepared for the championships.
He is hoping to see more school records and the Cards qualified for the NCAA Championships as none of the Cards are qualified for the NCAA Championships yet and this will be their last chance.
“We have a couple people that are real close but they got to put it together in their races this weekend in order to have a chance to qualified,” Jones said.
Jones said the team has worked hard and saw some good results in SUNYAC and the team just needs to stay focused, be mentally prepared and recover before the AARTFC to finish the best it can.
Email Kai Bing Ang at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
