April 10, 2007

The Sacred Heart University men and women's track & field teams competed at the UConn Alumni Invitational and Decathlon over the Easter weekend. The men placed fourth out of nine schools while the women fifth.

The SHU men psted 91.5 points. UConn won the team title, followed by Brown and URI, while the 4th place Pioneers bested UMass, Harvard, Central Connecticut, Hartford and Northeastern. The men also had two individual wins, and four IC4A qualifiers in the meet.

Junior Scott Giordano showed the way for the men, by recording two IC4A qualifiers and winning one event. First Giordano teamed with classmate Arman Dixon for a 1-3 finish in the 100 meter dash. Dixon crossed the line in 10.61, followed by Giordano in third in 10.72. Dixon and Giordano took over the top two spots in the Northeast Conference (NEC) in the event, and both surpassed the IC4A standard of 10.85. Later in the meet Giordano blazed a 21.69 clocking en route to winning the 200 meters. Giordano took over the NEC lead from Dixon, and also topped the IC4A standard of 21.74, for his second IC4A qualifier of the meet.

Senior co-captain Evan Lasher recorded Sacred Heart's fourth IC4A qualifier on the day in the shot put, placing 2nd with a seasonal best throw of 53' 11 3/4", which is well beyond the IC4A standard of 51' 2 1/4". Lasher ranks 2nd in the NEC in the shot put, and first in the discus. In other field results, Dixon placed 3rd in the long jump with a 21' 10 1/4" leap, while junior Jared Maher placed 7th in the triple jump and 8th in the high jump. In the pole vault, junior Ian Straughter cleared a season's best of 13' 11 1/4" to place 5th, and freshman Bartosz Smarkucki vaulted 10' 11 3/4" for 8th place. Straughter ranks 3rd in the NEC in the event.

On the track, sophomore Luis German place 3rd in the 800 meters with a 1:56.87 clocking, and classmate Joseph Palma took 4th in the 5000 meters with a personal best of 15:38.34. The Pioneer trio of sophomore David Jones, freshman Ryan Murdoch, and sophomore Jared Scata also placed in the 5000, finishing 5th, 7th and 8th respectively. Senior co-captain Alonzo Meek placed 5th in his specialty, the 110 meter hurdles, crossing the line in 15.61 seconds, and freshman Jason Soule ran a personal best of 56.85 to place 5th in the 400 meter hurdles.

Three athletes competed for Sacred Heart in the decathlon that was conducted as part of the meet on Thursday and Friday, with sophomore Thomas Hyatt placing 3rd (5680 points), followed by freshman Keith Rowe in 4th (5557 points), and sophomore Brian Germain in 5th (5449 points). Rowe clocked a personal best of 15.76 to win the 110 meter hurdles in the decathlon competition, while Hyatt cleared a personal best of 13' 3 1/2" to tie for 1st in the pole vault. Germain won two decathlon events, including the javelin (173' 10"), and the 1500 meters (4:52.30).

The women had one athlete compete in the Sam Howell Invitational Friday night distance races at Princeton, while the rest of the squad competed in the UConn Alumni Invitational on Saturday. The women finished with 61.5 points, behind UConn, Brown, URI and Harvard, but in front of UMass, Central Connecticut, Hartford and Northeastern.

Freshman Bonnie Kilis and senior tri-captain Kathleen Duffy led the way for the Pioneers at UConn. Kilis placed 2nd in the javelin with a huge personal best of 143' 3" to break the school record her older sister Jamie set just last week of 136' 9". More importantly, Kilis surpassed the NCAA Regional qualifying standard of 142' 6" with her mark, to earn a trip to the NCAA Regional meet in Gainesville, Florida at the end of May. Kilis also easily topped the ECAC (131' 3"), and USA Junior National (131' 3") standards in the event. In addition to her field contributions, Kilis also ran the lead off leg on Sacred Heart's 4th place 4 x 400 meter relay team. Duffy recorded Sacred Heart's lone individual win in the meet, battling blustery conditions to takes gold in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a 11:27.08 clocking. The reigning NEC champion and NEC record holder continues to lead the conference by a wide margin and has automatically qualified for the New England Championships in the event.

Freshman Brittany Dexter placed 3rd in the high jump for Sacred Heart with an ECAC qualifying leap of 5' 7", and also placed 7th in the 100 meter hurdles with a seasonal best clocking of 15.78 seconds. Junior Jamie Kilis placed 6th behind Dexter in the high jump with a 5' 3" clearance, and also took 4th in the shot put (41' 5 1/4"), and 6th in the hammer throw with a personal best of 144' 1". Junior Lenahndem Tankeng placed 3rd in the shot put with a season's best of 41' 11 1/2", and 7th in the hammer with a personal best of 142' 3", while junior tri-captain Marsha Locke placed 7th in the shot put with a 40' 5 1/2" heave. Juniors Christine Yakubec (133' 5") and Sarah Hickman (121' 0") each recorded seasonal bests in the discus to place 5th and 8th respectively. Rounding out the scoring for Sacred Heart were sophomore Sarana Hyatt, 7th in triple jump, and freshman Kerry Ojeda, tied for 7th in the pole vault.

At Princeton on Friday, sophomore Kathleen Henry ran a fast early season time and outdoor personal best of 17:46.51 in the 5000 meter race, placing 19th in a stacked field of 52 competitors.