By Jessica Landman
Men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to St. Lawrence University to compete at the Saint Ice Breaker meet March 26, their first meet of the 2022 outdoor season.
“It’s different running outside because you have to deal with weather conditions as well as the track being larger and a different shape which could affect races,” athlete Micheal Brockway said.
The men’s team finished in fourth place with a total of 70 points and the women finished third out of five teams with 101 points.
“I think the first meet went well. It was our first time throwing in a real circle since last year so it was definitely a rust buster,” thrower Kaitlyn Bjelko said. “It showed the potential, though, that this season has in store for me, and our entire team as a whole.”
The meet opened with the 100-meter preliminary races. The first heat of the race had two Cardinal athletes, Morgan Thompson who ran in 14 minutes, 7 second earning her ninth and a place in the final race. In the second heat was Hannah Cluck who finished in 13th with a time of 14.75 seconds. Deanna Zoch ran in the third and final heat of the preliminary race. She ended with a time of 14.02 seconds and also qualified for finals in eighth place. The men’s team had four sprinters in the 100-meter preliminary race. Cody Monnat finished in ninth place with a time of 11.90 seconds followed closely by Nicolas Anderson in 10th with a time of 11.92 seconds. The second heat had Levi Sochia who ran a 12.51. In the final heat was Brexton Montville who walked away with first place after running a 11.02.
The next event was the women’s and men’s 1500 meter race. Emma Ginnane finished her four laps in 5:55.13, just behind Kristen Thomas who finished with a time of 5:40.87. Rebecca Block ended with a time of 5:16.19 earning her sixth place. On the men’s side, six Plattsburgh athletes competed in this race. In the first heat was Peter Basile, finishing in 28th with a time of 4:51.24. Another close race ensued between Sean Grady, who finished with a time of 4:45.81, who beat Denali Rodriguez-Garnica, who took 25th place, by just two seconds. Liam Gildea finished with an overall time of 4:34.79. Logan Van Buren ran in the second heat along with Noah Bonesteel. Van Buren finished in sixth place with a 4:19.92 and Bonesteel finished in second place overall with a time of 4:13.85.
This was followed by the 400-meter dash. Madison Myer was the only Cardinal to run in this race. She finished in fifth place with a time of 1:18.55. The men’s team had two competing athletes. Ethan Hodge ended with a time of 1:01.39 following Thomas McDonough who finished with a time of 59.84 earning him eighth place.
After that was the 100 meter sprint final race. Three women qualified for this race by finishing top nine in the preliminary race. Thompson finished in eighth place with a time of 13.85 followed by Zoch who placed ninth overall with a time of 13.87. Landman finished with a time of 13.22 earning her second place overall. Monnat finished in eighth place running a time of 11.84 seconds. Montville ended in first place running clocking in at 10.93 seconds.Heat one of the 800-meter run had four competing Cardinals. Mikayla Osmer ran a 3:29.20, while Kristen Boerke had a 3:08.13. Not far ahead was Natalia Castro, who finished with a 2:53.99. Ginanne ended in ninth place with a time of 2:52.78. In the second heat of this race was Thomas who finished with a 2:53.20, Block finishing in seventh with a 2:37.38, and Janyll Barber who got second place with a final time of 2:33.80. The men’s team had six athletes in the race. The first heat consisted of Basile coming in just three seconds behind 18th place Rodriguez-Garnica who finished with a time of 2:21.28. Grady, who ran a 2:20.86, and Van Buren, who ran a 2:13.52, in the second heat of the race. In the third and final heat was Gildea with a time of 2:12.84 and Noah Bonesteel who earned seventh place finishing with a 2:08.84.
The next race was the 200 meter sprint. Castro and Myer were in the first heat with a 32.42 and a 34.65. In the second heat was Cluck who finished with a time of 30.82 earning her 12th place. In the final heat was Thompson running a 29.01, and Landman finishing in second with a time of 27.63. The men’s team had three athletes, all in separate heats, competing in the 200 meter. The first runner was Hodge who finished with a 26.48 followed by Sochia with a 25.28. Anderson ran in the final heat finishing in eighth place with a time of 24.59.
This was followed by the 5,000 meter race. Coming in second place was Justin Kumrow with a final time of 17:06.21 and earning first place was Michael Brockway finishing with a time of 16:22.47. The final event on the track was the men’s 4×400 meter relay. Gildea, Grady, Rodriguez-Garnica, and Bonesteel finished with an overall time of 3:54.84 placing the team in third place.
Long jump opened the jumping events at St. Lawrence. Representing the women’s team was Osmer, jumping 3.75 meters; Kathrine Berge, landing 4.07 meters; Boerke, with a distance of 4.18; Micheala Schaffer, jumping 4.75 meters; and Barber, who jumped 5.20 meters setting a meet record and earning first place. Aiden Masten competed for the men’s team, jumping 6.01 meters and placing fourth overall. Masten also earned fifth place in high jump with a height of 1.57 meters. Osmer placed third and Berge placed second, both jumping a height of 1.32 meters.
For the women’s discus, Megan Thornton threw 19.40 meters, Alaina Conners got a distance of 20.14, Bliss Rhoads threw 27.80 meters placing her in third, and Journey Myricks threw 33.11 meters earning her third place. On the men’s side, Spencer Trudo threw 25.04 and Aiden Tous threw a distance of 34.62 placing him in sixth. For the shot put event, Berge threw 5.24, Osmer threw 5.89, Boerke threw 6.15 meters, Thornton threw 8.42 meters, Rhoads landed seventh place with 9.84 meters and Myricks finished in fourth throwing a distance of 11.03 meters tying with Beljeko. For the men’s team, Tous threw 12.07 giving him fourth place as well. In the women’s hammer throw Thornton threw 27.01, Connors threw 28.80, Bjelko earned sixth place with 35.18 meters, and Myricks placed fifth after throwing 35.20 meters. Tous threw 34.08 landing him in eighth place and Trudo finished in seventh place with 34.45 meters. Three women also competed in the javelin throw. Elizabeth Kocienda ended in seventh place with 18.78 meters, Bjelko threw 26.97 meters just behind Rhoads who finished in fourth place with 27.53 meters.
The new distance coach, Jordyn Naylong, said that at the next meet she is expecting more athletes working on their race plans and trusting themselves more. The men’s and women’s team both compete at St. Lawrence University again next weekend, at the Saints Broken Open meet.
