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.