Track and Field Shows Well at Home Opener

Track and Field Shows Well at Home Opener

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College track and field squads competed in the first of three indoor home meets on Saturday, logging an array of impressive individual performances as they hosted the annual Collegeville Classic in the Floy Lewis Bakes Center.

With scores being tracked, the men finished 5th out of 24 teams and the women were 6th of 19.

The men's squad started the meet with a bang, as sophomore James McDaid was succeed by senior Mitchell Kelly, sophomore Andre Kelly, and freshman Kyle Berardi for a first-place finish in the distance medley relay, clocking in at 11:06.44 to outdistance the runners-up by nearly 21 seconds.

Freshman Griffin McMann and senior Adam Myers gave Ursinus a 2-3 finish in the shot put. McMann added more than seven feet to his collegiate best with a 46-8.25, behind only an unattached athlete who hurled a 62-4.50. Myers, meanwhile, was close behind at 45-9.75.

Kelly, who came in ranked second in the Centennial Conference in the 400, crossed the line in third place at 52.74.

Senior Jequan Mitchell joined sophomores Codi Yhap, McDaid, and Kelly to snare a third-place performance in the 4x400-meter relay (3:33.42).

McDaid moved into the top-10 on the conference performance list with a time of 2:02.53 in the 800, good for sixth overall.

Freshman Zack Beavers' time of 9.64 in the 60-meter hurdles prelims was almost a full second faster than his collegiate debut at the Diplomat Open and moved him into seventh in the conference.

Mitchell led the way in the 60-meter dash, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the finals with a mark of 7.40 seconds. Fellow senior and football teammate Jamie Casseus logged a 7.50 in his first action of the season.

Mitchell placed 10th in the 200 (24.19), with Yhap (24.47) and Casseus (24.73) close behind.

On the women's side, junior Audrey Simpson, sophomore Catherine Curran, freshman Meredith Steele, and junior Riley Engel finished third in the distance medley relay with a time of 13:44.85.

Freshman Gianna Speranza was impressive in her high jump debut, placing third with a leap of 4-9.00. Classmate Neve Durrwatcher was seventh at 4-7.00.

Junior Catherine Buczek and freshmen twins Michela Coleman and Rachel Coleman gave the Bears a trio of strong performances in the 200-meter dash. Buczek's 27.55 moves her into fourth in the conference and placed her fourth overall, while Michela Coleman shaved .04 seconds off her season low to snag eighth place in 27.94. Rachel Coleman was right behind in 28.04.

Junior Brittany Gasser posted a personal-best 2:29.68 in the 800, enough to finish fourth overall and vault her into third on the CC performance list, less than three-tenths of a second out of second.

Junior Caroline Buckley, the conference leader in the triple jump, logged a 32-11.75 to finish fifth overall in the event.

Junior Morgan Cope was seventh (8-6.25) in her first pole vault action of the season. Sophomore Sophia Simoes took eighth in the shot put, just missing her season best with a toss of 32-10.50.

Freshman Rachel Coleman had a personal best 8.38 in the 60-meter dash prelims to qualify for the afternoon finals, where she took ninth at 8.46.

Sophomore Kira Miller qualified for the 60-meter hurdles finals with a 10.19, good for 10th in the prelims, and improved that mark to 10.08 to land in ninth place in the final.

The track and field squads head to Bethlehem for the Lehigh Invitational on Saturday, January 27.