Track teams set personal, school records at championships

The Gladiator indoor track teams participated in the Section IX Class A track and Field Indoor championship in Gillis Fieldhouse at the United States Military Academy on Jan. 31 and came away with more personal records than ever.

The girls team set 19 personal records while the boys set 20, including a school 4x400 meter relay record. Having recently moved to Class A, the coaches decided to enter top athletes in only two events with the intent of producing personal bests.

For the girls, Joy and Olivia Sawyer placed fourth (7.46) and 10th (7.69) respectively in the 55m dash while Maggie Lu won her heat in the 600m to finish 12th in 1:49.7. Freshman Isabella Williams placed seventh in the 1500m in a personal best time of 5:07.06.

In the 1500m race walk, Grace Vanderpool produced a strong effort to place fourth in 9:15.84. Larianna Bala, who placed sixth in both the pole vault and the 55m hurdles, also led off the 4x200m relay with a 28.2 effort. Emily Loftus (12:21.91) and freshman Brielle Jurik (12:31.17) placed 11th and 12th in the 3000m while Daniella Grant placed eighth in the long jump (15’1.5”) and fourth in the triple jump (32’ 5”).

For the boys, Santos Avila finished 12th in the 55m with a personal best of 6.89 while Zadan Thomas and Logan Diglio place eighth and ninth in the 600m in 1:29.16 and 1:29.68 respectively.

The 1000m saw Jackson St. Lawrence take third (2:38.12), Shaun Brenner finish seventh (2:41.68), and Izzy Barnhorst cross the line in ninth (3:19.46).

In the field events, Logan Willems placed third in the pole vault and equaled his best effort clearing 12 ‘6”. In the weight throw, juniors Colby Bridges (38’ 4.5”) and Madison Hunter (24’ 6”) placed and 10th and 11th respectively in the weight throw.

The relays were where the Gladiators shined as both 4x400m relay teams excelled. The Girls team of Grant, Olivia Sawyer, Barnhorst and Joy Sawyer placed third in 4:18.93. Their 4x200m team of Bala, Jurnee Edorisiagbon, Ellis Rocchio, and Lu ran 1:56.89 to finish ninth. The boys 4x400m team of St. Lawrence, Digilo, Avila and Thomas finished fourth in a school record time of 3:32.46.

The girls and boys 4x800m relay teams each placed ninth in 11:47.05 and 9:21.22 respectively.

The team’s distance medley relay squads will compete next in the Varsity Classic on Feb. 3.