SYDNEY LORENTZ
STAFF WRITER
The Franciscan University of Steubenville track and field team saw its hard winter training pay off this weekend at the Eastern College Athletic Conference held March 1-2 in New York City at The Armory New Balance Track and Field Center.
On the women’s side, the distance medley relay started out strong on Friday night, with the Lady Barons taking first place overall. The relay was comprised of freshman Mary Jo Shirger, freshman Ashlin LaFond, freshman Claire Dawyot and senior Grace Galligan.
The relay finished in a time of 12:45.30, with Shirger starting off the 1,200-meter leg with a split of 3:56.06 followed by LaFond in the 400-meter leg splitting 1:03.98. Receiving the baton from LaFond, Dawyot ran a 2:32.16 800-meter leg. Galligan anchored the relay in 5:10.48 in the 1,600-meter leg, closing out the win by 17 seconds.
LaFond and Galligan both also had impressive finishes in their individual races, with LaFond placing eighth in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:25.35. Galligan rounded out the women’s side with a first place in the mile run with a time of 5:15.79, winning the race by 45 seconds.
On the men’s team, the distance medley relay runners had an impressive second place finish with a time of 10:36.18. Sophomore Mark Borek split 3:14.568 in the 1,200-meter leg, followed by graduate student Carlo Fabian in the 400-meter leg with a split 51.421. Fabian passed the baton to sophomore Austen Duggan, who ran a season personal record of 2:00.65 for the 800-meter leg. Senior Nick Long finished out the race in the 1,600-meter leg with a time of 4:29.132.
Sophomore Liam Galligan, following suit of his sister, placed first in the mile run with a personal record of 4:12.13. In the 3,000-meter run, Long and Borek took to the track once again, placing fourth and fifth respectively, with times of 8:59.14 and 8:59.34.
In the last event of the day for the running Barons, the men’s 4×400-meter relay, comprised of Fabian, Duggan, Galligan and senior Jim Craig, placed seventh overall with a time of 3:30.54, earning the team a new Franciscan University of Steubenville school record.
As head coach Vince Oliver said, “The Barons Track and Field teams competed all for God’s glory.”
The running Barons will be back in action on March 23 for their first outdoor meet of the year at Carnegie Mellon University.