By Charles Jardine
Sports Editor
The Franciscan University men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Bethany Invitational on Saturday, March 25.
The day kicked off early with the field events. Junior Tyson Smith threw 9.03m, sophomore Charles Jardine threw 10.77m and freshman Nicholas Brass threw 13.02m, narrowly missing a top 10 finish. Sophomore Brigid Mack continued her dominance in the women’s disc with the third farthest throw of her career, 39.37m, to help her finish first.
Freshman Clara Symington placed fourth overall in the 100m hurdle prelims to earn herself a spot in the finals, where she finished third. Sophomore Alexander Blose finished seventh overall in the 110m hurdles but did not compete in the finals due to a hamstring strain.
The women’s team had five runners run the 1500m with sophomores Jess Cambell finishing fourth with a time of 5:10.76 and Rachel Hurley finishing seventh with a time 5:23.93. Junior Angelina Toole finished 21st with a time of 5:47.27, freshman Clara Gross finished 24th with a time of 5:48.6 and sophomore Emma O’Keefe came in at 29th with a time of 6:02.73.
On the men’s side, senior Miguel Daez took home first place with a time of 4:01.13 in a daunting last 50m sprint for the win. Sophomore David DiNardo finished fifth with a time of 4:15.65 and senior Francis Langley placed 46th with a time of 5:47.75.
Blose competed in the men’s long jump for the first time in his collegiate career jumping 5.53m to place 15th, but was unable to compete in the pole vault due to an injury.
In the 400m, freshman Jianna Hanson placed 22nd with a time of 69.93 closely followed by junior Victoria Unnerstall in 24th with a time of 70.03. Senior David Cappello placed second with the second fastest time in school history at 49.55 seconds, closely followed by sophomore Joseph Rohde in third at 49.93.
In men’s javelin, sophomore Isaac Turner threw 33.31m to place 16th overall.
In the women’s 800m, freshman Anne O’Boyle placed eighth with a time of 2:38.79. On the men’s side, junior Nate Tokarsky placed second with a time of 2:06.16, followed by DiNardo in seventh coming in at 2:07.77.
In the 200m Rohde placed sixth in a time of 22.74, with teammate Cappello placing twelfth with a time of 23.56. In the 5000m, junior Claire Walters placed first overall by over a minute with a time of 18:10.38. Senior Conal Delaney placed fifth overall for the men with a time of 16:57.93, soon followed in seventh by freshman Andrew Madigan with a time of 17:08.84.
The Barons will compete at the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock University for their next meet on April 1.