COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – For the first time in four years, Ursinus College track and field team will not serve as the host of the Centennial Conference indoor track and field championships. For their part, the women hope a shift in location portends a return to the upper echelon of the standings.
The Bears finished fifth at last year's indoor championship, but with a deep mix of returning place winners back in the fold, they believe a return to at least the top four for the first time since 2013 is well within reach.
A preview of the weekend meet, broken down by each day's events:
Saturday, February 23
Senior Morgan Cope appears primed to break into medal territory in the pole vault, an event in which she placed sixth at last year's meet. Seed third with a mark of 10-6, Cope is chasing Johns Hopkins' Sophia Cortazzo and Annie Gutierrez.
The 60-meter dash could be a significant source of points for Ursinus, which boasts three of the top ten seeds. Freshman Kate Hunt is third at 8.18 seconds, while sophomores Gianna Speranza (8th at 8.39) and Molly Rodebaugh (10th at 8.42) are fully capable of breaking into scoring range.
Freshmen Rosie Cuomo (seeded 10th) and Tori Bearden (13th) will look to join the top-8 in the 60-meter hurdles.
Senior Caroline Buckley is seeded fourth in the triple jump, where she was the silver medalist with a leap of 33-6.75 a year ago. Bearden is seeded sixth, giving the Bears a pair of projected place winners.
Junior Sophie Simoes and senior Mikaela Bordonaro are seeded second and third, respectively, in the weight throw behind Swarthmore's Clay Conley, the prohibitive favorite. Simoes recently broke Bordonaro's indoor program record with a toss of 42-9, while Bordonaro (41-1.50) has a slight lead on the Garnet's Naomi Bronkema in the race for third.
The Bears are seeded fourth in the distance medley relay but have a real shot at gold in the 4x200, where their sprinting unit is second behind Swarthmore.
Sunday, February 24
Buckley finished 14th in the long jump a year ago but is seeded 10th at this edition, hoping to make a move up into scoring territory.
Seeded sixth, Simoes is the Bears' top contender in the shot put, but sophomore Vikki Rueda-Juarez (9th), Bordonaro (13th), and freshman Kamil Nazih (14th) give the squad a deep roster of competitors.
Sophomore Michela Coleman is a podium contender in the 400, where she is tabbed third at 1:01.22. Twin sister Rachel is seeded 10th (1:03.32).
A year removed from a bronze medal effort in the high jump, Speranza is tied for second in that event with a season best of 4-11, knotted with four other athletes and behind only Maya Hammonds of Johns Hopkins.
Senior Brittany Gasser has already twice reset the indoor school record in the 800, where her converted time of 2:18.78 has her seeded third behind Johns Hopkins' Erin Bush and Arielle Summit.
Hunt comes in as a medal contender in the 200-meter dash, seeded fourth at 27.01.
The meet concludes with the 4x800 and the 4x400, where Ursinus has another opportunity to challenge for gold; the Bears' seed time of 4:09.15 ranks behind only Johns Hopkins on the conference's performance list.