Track | Hawks place sixth, eighth at A-10 Championships

The Saint Joseph’s University track teams competed in the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships in Kingston, R.I., last weekend with the men’s squad finishing in sixth place out of 10 teams participating in the two-day meet, and the women’s team tied for eighth out of 12 teams. The Charlotte 49ers men successfully defended their title, scoring 207 points. Runner-up Rhode Island was a distant second with 129 points. The Charlotte women shared the title with Dayton, each collecting 145 points.

There were some bright spots for the Hawks. Kristin Andrews, ’11, turned in another stellar performance, winning the 500 meter run with a time of 1:15.36. Jessica DiCicco, ’11, was third in the 5,000 meter and sixth in the 3,000 meter timing in at 17:19.95 and 9:69.74, respectively. Nohjay Nimpson, ’11, collected a fourth place finish in the triple jump, averaging 11.75m per jump totaling 38-06.75m.

The standouts for the men’s team included Luke Fisher, ’11, who placed third in the mile and Kevin McDonnell, ’12, who was third in the 5,000 meter race. Andrew Townsend, ’13, was third in the 1,000 meter. The men’s team collected a total of 45 points for sixth place and the women tallied 36 points. 

Cross town rivals Temple placed third both in the men’s and women’s competitions. La Salle placed fourth in the men’s meet and tenth in the women’s competition.  La Salle's Korey Edwards defended his 2009 crown in the 1,000m, winning the mile and also running on the Explorers’ winning 4x800m relay team.

There was surprising strength in both the St. Joe’s men’s and women’s relay teams. The 4x800m relay team consisting of Townsend, Murphy O’Donnell, ’12, Garvin, and Luke Fischer, ’11, finished fourth with a time of 7:50.82, while the 4x400m team made up of Connor Hubschman, ’13, David Smith, ’12, Garrett Barblinardo, ’13, and Jared Sabre, ’11, finished in fifth.  The distance medley made up of O’Donnell, Steven Philbrook, ’10, Brian Guterel, ’11, and Fischer had some success as well placing fourth with a time of 10:07.36. 

Like the men’s relay, the women’s teams fared well in their races as both the 4x800 and 4x400 relay finished fifth. Made up of Sara Walker, ’13, Anna Casey, ’12, Kelsey Rose, ‘12, and Kathleen Casey, ’12, the 4x800 clocked in with a time of 9:12.82 while the 4x400 made up of Shannon Geddes, ’13, Kiersten Quinn, ’10, Andrews, and Nicole McMullen, ’10, were timed at 3:56.53.

The Charlotte 49ers completely dominated the rest of the field in the men’s meet, winning individual titles in the 55-meter hurdles, 55m dash, 200m dash, 400m dash, and 500 m run. Charlotte’s Darius Law won both the 200 and 400 m titles and ran the anchor leg of the 49er’s winning 4x400 m relay team, which clocked a time of 3:17.07.

Overall, both teams failed to reach their goals but with these bright spots on the team they should be ready to challenge in the A-10 in the future. The next meet will take place at New York University this coming Friday.