The Plattsburgh State track and field team saw several strong performances on both the men and women’s sides last weekend at Cortland.
There was no team scoring in the meet, but both the men and women saw some ECAC and SUNYAC qualifying marks.
Head Coach Nicholas Jones was quite satisfied with the results of the meet.
“For the weather we had, the results were pretty good,” Jones said. “We still haven’t had great weather, except for the meet at Middlebury.”
Familiar veterans had a big impact on the women’s side of things.
Seniors Stephanie Boucher and Lauren Perschetz both had strong showings in their respective events, with Boucher again winning the 800-meter while qualifying for ECACs and SUNYACs, and with Perschetz qualifying for both tournaments in the 5000-meter.
Some of the younger members of the team got in on the action too.
Freshmen Elisabeth Plympton and Claire Deshaies had strong showings, with Plympton qualifying for SUNYACs with her sixth-place finish in the 100-meter, and Deshaies doing the same with her fifth-place finish in the 400-meter. Plympton and Deshaies also joined juniors Ashlee Estes and Courtney Wilson to take fourth in the 4×100-meter relay. Deshaies doubled up in relays, joining fellow freshman Samantha Mosca, junior Lindsey Davenport, and Boucher to finish fourth in the 4×400-meter relay.
On the field, Wilson built on her stellar weekend at RPI with another couple strong performances, winning the triple jump and taking fifth in the long jump while qualifying for SUNYACs in both.
Wilson was happy for herself, but also happy with how the team did as a whole last weekend.
“Everyone’s seeing improvements, as well as myself,” Wilson said.
“We’re really excited to head into RPI, it’s going to be good weather and we’ll hopefully see some good performances.”
The men also got some steady performances from their veteran presences last weekend.
Senior Ethan Vinson took second in the 1500-meter to qualify for SUNYACs, while also finishing sixth in the 800-meter. Fellow senior Kyle Jones continued his stellar season with a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter and a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter, qualifying for ECACs in both. Vinson and Jones both joined junior Sobaan Ayub and sophomore Brian Fabian in the 4×400-meter relay to take home a third-place finish and qualify for ECACs in that event as well.
Fellow senior Zach Grandy snagged an ECAC qualifying time for himself in the 400-meter hurdles, while sophomore Matt Jenkins grabbed a SUNYAC qualifying time with his fifth-place finish in the 10,000-meter.
Grandy was proud of his team’s performance, and was happy about how it would help the team moving forward.
“We all were working pretty hard at practice, so we were expecting big things when we got there,” Grandy said. “Everyone did well, and it kind of set us up well for this weekend and then SUNYACs after.”
Now the Cardinals only have one meet left before one of the biggest of the season. The meet Saturday at RPI will be big preparation for SUNYACs.
Both Grandy and Wilson agreed that the meet at RPI won’t involve changing it up, they’ll just be focusing on the bigger goal.
“This weekend is just one last final rust-buster, we’re not trying to do anything big, but at the same time we’re not going to take it easy,” Grandy said. “We’re just going to go out there and run, but not try to do anything crazy. With SUNYACs soon, no one wants to get hurt.”
“The most important goal is to just stay healthy and continue where we’re at with training,” Wilson said. “Everything we’ve worked for has come together, now it’s just about keeping it together for SUNYACs.”
There will be one last focus looming over the last few meets of the season.
With all of their collegiate careers coming to an end, Vinson, Jones, Boucher and Perschetz have been nothing short of fantastic this year. Coach Jones loves to see it, but knows that he won’t be seeing it for much longer.
“It helps a lot with leadership and showing the underclassmen what they should be shooting for, how they should act, and how they should handle themselves,” Jones said. “I’ll be sad to see those seniors go, because the underclassmen are going to have some big shoes to fill.”
Email Ben Watson at sports@cardinalpointsonline.com
