Spring Break!

This past week was spring break on Allegheny's campus.  Every other year the gators take a week long trip out to San Diego and compete at the sea-side track at Point Loma.  Unfortunately for the sun-starved gators, this was not one of those years.  But Coach Ross, determined to allow his team to receive their daily dose of Vitamin D via the sun, arranged for a trip in sunny Virginia at Washington & Lee in historic Lexington, Virginia.  The first day of competition, the gators started off on the right foot (pun intended).  The only two Allegheny women who decided to come on the trip both competed in the javelin throw.  Emily Norton, a typical multi-event athlete, threw 62 ft 4 inches, which placed her 15th overall.  Lauren Butler, an All-American in the event last year, threw 137 ft 1 inch, a foot off of her personal best throw all time.  This distance placed her first overall, setting a meet record, and places her 3rd overall on the NCAA qualifying list.  The next day, both of these women competed in the shot put event.  Norton placed 28th overall with a heave of 22 feet 03 inches, and Butler placed 4th overall with a toss of 38 feet 1.5 inches. 
For the men on the first night, it was a night of PR's.  Andrew Mahone and Michael Vlah both ran PR's in the 1500 meter run, running 4:01.93 and 4:02.11, placing 11th and 12th overall in a grueling heat where the race was determined by a strong kick by Mahone.  Benjamin Eyer raced his way in the fast heat to a 4:01.38, while his brother, Gregory, in an earlier heat, finished with a time of 4:15.27.  Next was the 5k.  In the first heat, Mike Faix led the way, finishing with a time of 15:59.72, breaking the 16 minute barrier with a strong kick.  Next across the line for the gators was Brennan "Hammies" Hamilton, finishing with a time of 16:15.55.  And Steve "El Diablo" Cottington, crushing his previous PR by 20 some seconds, finished with a time of 17:00.53, barely missing his goal of breaking 17 minutes.  The next heat featured Christopher Marker, a 2 time All-American, and Patrick McLaughlin.  Christopher finished in 1st place overall, crushing the meet record, with a NCAA provisional time of 14:45.58, placing him 2nd on the NCAA qualifying list.  And Pat McLaughlin finished in a PR of 15:16.08 with a strong finish.  The final race of the night, Ryan "Rupert" Sullivan, in a grinding 10,000 meter run, finished in 3rd place overall, his first time running this race, with a time of 31:54.63. 
The next day featured the field events of Darryl Overton, throwing the discuss 107 feet 5 inches and the shot put 38 feet 2 inches, placing 25th and 27th overall, respectively.  On the track, Tim Hasset raced his way to 15th place overall in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 17.35.  The gator men had a significant amount of bodies in the 800 meter run as well.  First up was Jack Conant, with a time of 2:05.00, placing 41st.  Next was Greg Eyer, placing 36th with a time of 2:02.90.  His brother, Ben, was next on the list, placing 12th overall, with a time of 1:57.81.  Mike Vlah, leading his heat from start and almost to the finish, placed 9th overall with a solid PR of 1:57.17.  Andrew Mahone, having to take over the lead after a very slow first lap in :58 seconds, pushed the pace to finish 2nd in his heat (3rd overall), with a time of 1:55.48.
All-in-all, the meet at W&L was a memorable one filled with personal records, fast times, and even better, the best of times with other teammates.

Post Season Wrap-Up

The end of indoor.  No more indoor lung.  No more sharp-turn 200 meter tracks.  No more snow.  Time for outdoor.

The end of the indoor season ended with a bang on the mens side.  Tony Dipre set the conference and stadium record with his 4:10.84 mile time in the NCAC race, taking the lead with 600 meters to go and rolling his way to a win.  The time was also an automatic time for the national meet.  Dipre was also a part of the winning DMR squad, along with Freshman Mike Vlah, Alex Gorski, and Christopher Marker.  Chris Marker was also the winner of the 5000 meter run, repeating his performance from last year, with a time of 15:08.37.  Andrew Mahone also had a stellar meet, running prelims of the 800 in 1:56.16, which got him into the finals.  He then came back the very next day to run 1:55.33 which placed him 2nd overall.  Dante Briscoe, who had just finished his basketball season, took 3rd in the high jump and 2nd in the triple jump. The mens team, despite having multiple injuries, and no one running in the sprints, placed 3rd overall behind Ohio Wesleyan University and Wabash College.

At the national meet, the DMR missed out making it into the meet by less than half a second and so it was only Tony Dipre left to represent the gators.  And he did.  Tony cruised his way in prelims, winning his heat and garnering himself a position in the final.  Dipre led the mens mile final until the last 400 meters when, eventual winner, Nick Guarino passed him.  Dipre fought back as 2 more men passed him with 200 meters to go, and he finished in an All-American 3rd place.

On the Womens side, Mia Symoniak was the highlight of the meet.  Mia ran to a conference win, a huge PR, a conference and school record, with a time of 17:19.82, which afforded her a place to the national meet.  Freshman Holly Wilson showed her hops in the Long and Triple jumps, as she finished 4th and 2nd, respectively.  Beth Muller showed herself strong in sprints, finishing 1st in both the 55 and 200 meter dashes, and 2nd in the 400 meter dash, as well.  Lauren Butler continued a strong indoor season, winning the shot put by over a foot with a throw of 41-09.75.  The women's team also finished 3rd.

At the national meet, Mia Symoniak represented the lady gators well.  She hung on tough to the lead pack for two miles, going through the 3k in a PR, but the pace proved to be too much and she finished in 12th place in 17:44.39.