Dec. 11, 2007

Yale Season Opener Men's Results

Yale Season Opener Women's Results

The Sacred Heart track and field teams took part in the Yale Season Opener on Saturday, sending partial teams to the event. With no team scoring, freshman Angelica Johnson led the way for the SHU women with a first place in the 200-meters and a second place finish in the 60-meter dash. For the men, senior Scott Giordano and freshman Peter Conti picked up a pair of second place finishes in the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, respectively.

On the track, Johnson set a new school record in the 60-meters, clocking in with a time of 7.89 seconds. Her time automatically qualified her for the New England Championships and smashed the former school record of 8.16. Johnson then went on to record the Pioneers' lone win of the meet, topping a field of 29 entrants with a time of 26.39 in the 200-meters.

Sophomore Sarah Tencza also automatically qualified for the New England's while placing sixth with a personal best clocking of 3:02.06 in the 1000-meter run. A trio of freshmen ran strong races with Kimberly DeLoreto placing fourth in the 5000-meters (18:42.79), Stephanie Kanner fifth in the 500-meters (1:21.01), and Samantha Troy ninth in the 3000-meters (10:49.57).

In the field, senior captain Brianne Hudak placed second in the pole vault with a 10'0" clearance, and fifth in the high jump with a 5'1" leap. Fellow senior captain Melissa Kostan finished third in the high jump at 5'1", finishing ahead of Hudak on the basis of fewer misses.

The women rounded out their day with a third place showing in the 4x400 meter relay. The quartet of Kanner, junior Ashley Stearns, Kostan and Tencza, recorded a fast early season time of 4:02.20, with Kostan (60.0), and Tencza (60.1) turning in the fastest splits.

Junior Luis German set a new school record for the Pioneer men on the track, clocking in at 8:45.83 in the 3000-meters. German's performance was good for fifth place, as he broke the old record by more than seven seconds and he now tops the Northeast Conference performance list in the event.

In the 60-meter dash trials, senior captain Arman Dixon ran an IC4A qualifying time of 6.97 seconds, but didn't contest the final. Giordano went on to place second in the final of the event, also qualifying for the IC4A's with a 6.98 clocking.

Conti debuted with a second place finish and New England qualifying performance of 8.44 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, leading sophomore teammates Keith Rowe (4th in 8.50), and Jason Soule (7th in 8.69) across the finish line. Junior captain John Kenworthy ran a huge personal best of 15:31.22 to place third in the 5000-meters, while classmate Scott Matheson recorded a personal best of 1:59.43 to place seventh in 800-meters. Freshman Clifford Faulkner (1:07.51), junior Adam Cafarella (1:08.03), and freshman Daniel Galanto (1:08.05) placed third, fourth and fifth respectively in the 500-meters, while freshman Sean Barrett took fourth in the 400-meters (51.12).

In the field, freshman Andrew Orlandi placed fifth in the pole vault with a 14'3 ¼" clearance, while junior Thomas Hyatt tied his personal best to place eighth with a height of 13'3 ½".

The men's 4x 400 meter relay team ended the meet by placing second and recording an automatic New England qualifying performance of 3:22.33. The quartet of Soule, sophomore Taariq Cayne, Cafarella and Faulkner did the baton work, with Cafarella (50.1), and Faulkner (49.8) turning in the fastest splits.