Greenville, ILL. -- The track and field team competed well at the SLIAC Conference Championship Meet in Greenville on Saturday, April 28
th against seven schools. For most of the team, this was the final meet of the season. A few individuals seeking national qualifying marks will continue competing over the next few weeks. For seniors Brie Burns and
Nick Lynch, this was the final competition of their collegiate career. Overall, this meet produced: 2 school records, 16 lifetime bests (PR), 10 All-Conference selections, and both teams won the Sportsmanship Awards.
Senior Highlights:
Brie is known for grace. She endures the physical and emotional challenge of pushing the body to the edge of its capabilities with joy. That was on full display in her last track meet as she ran every lap of her final 1500-meter race with a big smile. From the start, she committed to a faster pace than usual, and finished the race in 6:04. Additionally, Brie anchored the 4x400 meter relay to a fourth place finish.
Nick Lynch ran the 5,000 meter race early in the day. After joining the team in 2017, Lynch committed fully to the goal of growing as a runner and teammate. He finished his final collegiate 5K in 18:57.
Men's Highlights:
The men's team placed 3
rd in the SLIAC conference and walked away with the SLIAC Sportsmanship Award. Their success was not only collective, but also individual. The team had six members who made the All-Team First Conference Award:
Corey Carter,
Dean Colarossi,
Mitchell Gill, Jon Ansumana, Josh Aleman, and
Zach Matthiesen. Carter had stellar performances in the 4X100, the 4X400, the 100-meter dash, and the 200-meter dash. He ran a personal best, and a new school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.64. This time tentatively places him as 11
th in the DIII national rankings. He is also still ranked 12
th in the 200. He placed first in conference in both events and ran strong legs of the relay races. The 4x100 team (Colarossi, Gill, Ansumana, and Carter) broke the school record, which they set in the previous meet, with a time of 43.19. This time also placed them 3
rd in conference.
The 4X400 team placed 3
rd in conference. The team comprised of Gill, Aleman, Carter, and Ansumana ran a 3:22.90. It was a nail-biting showdown in the last 100-meters with Ansumana duking it out with runners from Greenville and Webster. He ended up clutching 3
rd place for the team with a 48.9 second electronically-timed split. Earlier in the meet, Ansumana won the 400 with a time of 50.26. He also won the long jump, and his leap of 7.07 meters (23' 2.5") has him ranked 27
th in the nation currently. He was the only member of the conference to win both an individual field event and track event.
Another win for Principia was recorded by
Zach Matthiesen in the 1,500. He led the pack for the whole race, running even splits each lap and finished 1
st with a time of 3:55. Other highlights included Josh's 3
rd place finish (All-Conference) in the 400 Hurdles with a new PR time of 57.96.
Other Panthers to score included:
Chris Puduski, 5
th place in the hammer throw;
Kai Fisher, 6
th in the 110-meter high hurdles;
Elliot Hummel, 5
th in the 1,500-meter run and a new PR of 5:24; Gill, 6
th in the 400;
Abe Ott, 6
th in the 800-meter run.
Women's Highlights:
As the women's team walked up to receive the Sportsmanship Award, a competitor from another school yelled from the stands: "you guys are the nicest team." On the individual side, Afton Leslie made All-Team First Conference in the 1500-meter. Leslie raced with a competitive group and worked her way up throughout the race. In the final 300-meters, she switched gears and sprinted past competitors to finish with a time of 5:08. This time is her personal best by nine seconds and placed her 3
rd in conference.
Emily Gillespie also earned All-Conference honors with her 3
rd place finish in the pole vault. Another highlight was Sophia Hathaway's new PR throw of 26.85 meters (88' 1") in the javelin. Also, Sally Abouchar scored her first point of the outdoor season with a sixth place finish in the pole vault.
Coming Up:
On May 10
th Matthiesen and Carter will travel to Naperville IL for a last chance meet. Some additional athletes may have an opportunity to compete as well so stay tuned.
