The Sacred Heart indoor track & field team got their season underway this past weekend competing in the Collegiate Track Conference (CTC) Indoor Relay Carnival at Yale University. The women won for the 11th consecutive year and the men for the 10th-straight time.

"Our season is off to a great start," stated head coach Christian Morrison. "We had so many good performances in the meet that it is impossible to mention all of them. Both teams look stronger than ever."

"In virtually every event area we've got a nice combination of experience, youth, talent and depth right now. It's that combination that allowed us to so thoroughly dominate this relay competition."

The SHU women finished first in 13 of the 14 relays they entered, and finished second in the other. On the men's side, SHU finished first in 12 of the 15 relays they entered, and finished second in the other three. They won every single track relay, and three of the six field relays.

The Pioneer women set six relay school records and three individual school records in the meet. They also had six athletes automatically qualify for the New England Championships and one athlete qualify for the ECAC Championship.

In the 55-meter dash relay, freshman Angelica Johnson (7.27 seconds) and senior captain Melissa Kostan (7.59) combined for a new school record. Johnson also set a new individual school record in the 55-meter dash, as both her and Kostan surpassed the old record of 7.61 seconds. In addition, Johnson automatically qualified for the New England Championships with her time.

Junior Sarana Hyatt (8.59) and sophomore Brittany Dexter (8.99) combined for a new record in the 55-meter hurdle relay. Hyatt also set a new individual school record in the 55-meter hurdles, topping the old record of 8.64. Hyatt automatically qualified for the New England Championships with her time.

In the sprint medley relay (400 meters, then 200, 200, and 800) - junior Ashley Stearns, Kostan, Johnson, and sophomore Sarah Tencza set a new school relay record of 4:14.73, smashing the old record of 4:20.87 which was set in 2000. Johnson set her second individual school record of the day by running the fastest 200-meter split (25.5 seconds) in school history. Both Johnson and Kostan (25.8) topped the old record 26.0.

In the high jump relay, Dexter (5' 5 ¾") and Kostan (5' 1 ¾") combined to win and tie the school record in the event. Dexter also automatically qualified for the New England Championships.

Senior captain Brianne Hudak (10' 0"), and sophomore Kerry Ojeda (9' 6 ¼") tied their own school record in the pole vault relay while winning the event. Senior captain Marsha Locke (46' 4 ¾"), and senior Jamie Kilis (42' 10 ¾") combined for a new shot put relay record while winning the event. Locke, Kilis, and SHU's third entrant in the shot put, senior captain Lenahndem Tankeng (41' 2 ¼"), each automatically qualified for the New England Championships, while sweeping the first three individual places in the shot put. Locke also qualified for the ECAC Championship with her mark.

The Pioneer men set seven relay school records, and one individual school record in the meet. They also recorded four automatic New England qualifying performances and had two IC4A Championship qualifying performances.

Senior captains Arman Dixon (6.35 seconds) and Scott Giordano (6.61) won 55-meter dash relay while combining for a new school relay record. Dixon automatically qualified for both the New England Championships and IC4A Championship in the event.

The team of senior Michael Barrett, sophomore Taariq Cayne, Giordano and Dixon won 4x200 meter relay in a new school record of 1:28.58, with split times of 22.8, 22.6, 21.9, and 21.3 respectively. They demolished the old record of 1:32.42, which dated back to 2002. Dixon (21.3) ran the fastest 200-meter relay split in school history, beating his own mark of 21.9, which he set last year.

In the high jump relay, Dixon (23' 9 ½"), and Barrett (20' 6 ½") won the event and broke the school relay record they set last year in the process. Dixon also automatically qualified for both the New England and IC4A Championships with his mark.

Sophomores Keith Rowe (7.90 seconds), and Jason Soule (8.09) tied the existing school record for the 55 meter hurdle relay while winning the event. Rowe also automatically qualified for the New England's with his time. Sophomore Taariq Cayne, freshmen Clifford Faulkner and Sean Barrett, and junior Luis German broke the existing school record while winning with a time of 3:33.48 in the sprint medley relay. German ran the 800-meter anchor leg of the relay in a very fast time of 1:56.8, as the quartet broke the record by nearly four seconds.

The 55-meter hurdle relay team of sophomore Matthew Chorney and freshmen Andrew Houghtalen, James Curran and Steven Pawlowski took the top spot in a school record time of 18:31.16, breaking the existing school record by more than 24 seconds. Chorney recorded the fastest split time with a 4:32.8 clocking.

Junior captain David Jones (15:47.29) and sophomore Brendan Rickert (16:08.66) each ran personal bests in the 5,000-meter relay event while combining for the win in a new school relay record. Soule, Faulkner, Sean Barrett and junior Adam Cafarella won the 4x400 meter relay in a New England Championship qualifying time of 3:23.49. Soule recorded the fastest split with a personal best clocking of 49.5.