April 24, 2007

The Sacred Heart University men & women's track & field teams competed in the Collegiate Track Conference (CTC) Championships at DeSales University on Saturday and Sunday with both teams coming home with the trophy. The women won the meet for the 10th consecutive year while the men won the team title for the second consecutive year, and seventh time in the last 10 years.

The women scored 220.5 points, to easily overcome a field of 17 teams, while winning seven events, placing second in seven more, and 3rd in six others. The SHU men won out over an 18-team field with a 150 point total, recording seven first place finishes, five second places, and two third places in the process. The men also had two athletes compete in the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday. During the course of the weekend, the men recorded seven IC4A qualifiers, and three NCAA Regional qualifiers.

Freshman Bonnie Kilis completed a 2-day odyssey by winning her first collegiate heptathlon with a school record total of 4342 points. Both she and junior Melissa Kostan, who finished a close 2nd with 4325 points, topped the school record of 4274 points that Kostan set in 2006. Kilis and Kostan led a 1-4 sweep, with sophomore Sarana Hyatt placing 3rd (4033 points), and junior Brianne Hudak taking 4th (3875 points). Kilis also set school records for two individual heptathlon events, while winning the javelin (139' 7"), and 800 meters (2:29.80), and recorded personal bests in the high jump (5' 1"), and 200 meters (27.0). More importantly, Kilis qualified for the USA Junior National Championships in Indianapolis in June in both the heptathlon, and javelin, easily surpassing the standards 4200 points and 131' 3" respectively for those events. Additionally, Kilis topped the ECAC qualifying standard, also 131' 3", in the javelin. Kilis, who has already qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the javelin, ranks 1st in the NEC in the heptathlon and 2nd in the javelin, together with top-14 rankings in the high jump and 400 hurdles.

On the track, senior tri-captain Kathleen Duffy led the way with a win in the 3000 meter steeplechase, in an NEC list leading time of 11:19.33. Duffy, the defending NEC champion and conference record holder, is undefeated in three steeplechase races this season. Sophomore Kathleen Henry was also an individual winner for the Pioneers, taking the 1500 meters in 4:57.30, followed by senior Anne Duffy (5:04.36) in 4th, and freshman Sarah Tencza (5:05.69) in 5th. The women won the 4 x 800 meter relay in a 10:08.20 clocking, with a team consisting of seniors Anne Duffy, Erin Spilka, and Julia Mahoney, and freshman Jacqueline Wilkins. Also on the track, senior Stephanie Oberheim placed 2nd in the 800 meters (2:25.96), and freshman Brittany Dexter took 2nd in the 100 hurdles (15.60), with classmate Kerry Ojeda taking 4th (15.76). Sophomore Ashley Stearns placed 3rd in the 400 meters (1:01.10), and the women's 4 x 400 meter relay team consisting of Tencza, Oberheim, freshman Samantha Hiltzik, and junior Margarita Landelius placed 2nd in 4:08.31.

The women dominated the throwing events as usual, with junior co-captain Marsha Locke leading a 1-2-3-8 finish in the shot put. Locke threw 43' 8 3 3/4", followed by classmates Jamie Kilis (40' 5"), Lehahndem Tankeng (40' 4"), and Christine Yakubec (35' 8 3/4"). Yakubec followed up her 8th place finish in the shot, by winning the discus with a seasonal best hurl of 136' 7", falling just shy of the ECAC qualifying standard. Yakubec was followed in the discus by classmate Sarah Hickman who placed 3rd with a seasonal best of 125' 5", along with Jamie Kilis in 4th (121' 4"), and Tankeng in 5th (114' 9"). Jamie Kilis joined her younger sister Bonnie in the winner's circle by winning the open javelin with a throw of 130' 11", followed by Locke in 4th and Tankeng in 8th. In the hammer, Tankeng placed 3rd (146' 0"), followed by the elder Kilis in 4th (144' 10"), Locke in 5th (139' 8"), and Yakubec in 7th (133' 7"). All told, the women scored 83 points in the throws. Also in the field, freshmen Dexter and Ojeda placed 2nd in the high jump and pole vault, respectively, while classmate Molly Stockwell took 3rd in the triple jump, followed by Ojeda in 5th.

At Vanderbilt, Junior All-American Arman Dixon placed 2nd in a field of 70 in the 100 meters with a 10.45 clocking, and 2nd out of 71 entries in the 200 meters with a 20.86 finishing time. More importantly, Dixon set new outdoor school records in both events, while surpassing the NCAA Regional qualifying standards of 10.50 and 21.19 for the sprint races. Dixon currently leads the NEC by a wide margin in both the 100 and 200, and also has the fastest 200 time in the Northeast this year. Junior Scott Giordano competed at Vanderbilt as well, placing 9th overall in both the 100 (10.72), and 200 (21.37). Giordano topped the IC4A standard in both events, while recording a new personal best in the 200. He ranks 2nd in the NEC in both disciplines. Giordano and Dixon returned from Tennessee in time to run on the Pioneer's 1st place 4 x 400 relay in the CTC meet, combining with sophomore Luis German, and freshman Jason Soule for the win in 3:19.37. Giordano, had the fastest split (47.5) while running the second leg, and Dixon brought the team from behind on the anchor leg with a split of 48.2.

Senior co-captain Evan Lasher led Sacred Heart to the team championship in the CTC meet, winning all four throwing events to score 40 of the Pioneer's 150 points. Lasher threw a seasonal best and NCAA Regional qualifier in the shot put of 55' 4 3/4", and he currently ranks 2nd in the NEC. He also won the discus, an event he has also qualified for the NCAA Regionals in, with an IC4A qualifying distance of 161' 7". He continues to lead the NEC in the event. Lasher set a huge personal best by nearly 20 feet, while winning the javelin in 194' 3". Lasher qualified for the IC4A's for the first time in the javelin with the mark, and moved all the way up to 3rd in the NEC rankings. Lasher also won the hammer with a fling of 168' 2" to rank 8th in the conference. Freshman Charles Clark backed up Lasher in the hammer, placing 2nd overall with a personal best throw of 152' 2", while junior Michael Paradis placed 5th in the shot (45' 1/2").

Sophomores Brian Germain and Thomas Hyatt finished 1-2 in the decathlon competition, while setting new personal bests of 5856 points, and 5788 points respectively. Germain set a new school decathlon record while winning the javelin (176' 7"), while Hyatt set a new school decathlon record while winning the high jump (6' 3 1/4"). Hyatt also finished first in the decathlon pole vault (13' 3") and 1500 meters (4:46.40). Sacred Heart's other win in the meet was turned in by senior co-captain Alonzo Meek, who snared the 110 meter hurdle title with a seasonal best of 15.12 seconds.

In other field events, junior Joseph Henley placed 2nd in the high jump with a seasonal best of 6' 8", and classmate Ian Straughter tied his own school record in the pole vault, placing 2nd with a 14' 5 1/4" clearance. On the track, freshman Jason Soule placed 2nd in the 400 meter hurdles (56.52), and sophomore John Kenworthy ran a personal best (10:02.68) to place 2nd in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Junior Michael Barrett placed 3rd in the 100 meter dash (11.10), and 7th in the 200 meters with a seasonal best of 22.78, sophomore Luis German finished 3rd in the 800 meters (1:56.90). Sophomores Joseph Palma and David Jones notched 6th place finishes on the track, with Palma running a personal best of 4:05.81 in the 1500 meters, and Jones a seasonal best of 16:09.13 in the 5000 meters.