Freshmen Strong for Garnet Outdoor Track & Field at Danny Curran Invitational
CHESTER, Pa. - The Swarthmore College men's and women's outdoor track & field teams returned to action just down the road at nearby Widener, as both Garnet teams competed in the Danny Curran Invitational on Friday and Saturday evening.
On the women's side, senior Lauren DeLuca - who was one of Swat's top performers during the indoor season - opened up her outdoor season with a sixth-place finish in Friday night's section 1 women's 5,000 meter finals with a time of 19:05.58 - trailing only Haverford's Mary Morgan (18:53.40) among Centennial Conference performers. Sophomore Hannah Rose took 13th in her section final with a time of 20:58.65.
The Swat freshmen trio of Hana Lehmann, Rebecca Hammond and Miriam Vonderheide were the other stars for the Garnet women from the Curran Invite.
In the women's 800 meter dash, Hammond turned in the fourth fastest at the meet and the fastest among all Centennial performers, racing across the finish at 2:20.61.
Lehmann had an excellent all-around meet, taking sixth in the women's pole vault - clearing 8'06.25" - while finishing 13th in the triple jump (32'.75").
Vonderheide led the Garnet in the women's 400m hurdles with a time of 1:13.27 .
On the men's side, freshman John McMinn has a strong spring debut, taking fourth in the men's 5,000 run with a time of 15:32.47. Fellow freshman Jacob Phillips wasn't too far behind with a time of 15:59.48.
Junior Chris Mayer-Bacon had solid all-around day, recording the top times for the Garnet men in the 400m dash (54.85) and 400m hurdles (59.57). Freshman Matthew Heck turned in an impressive time in his spring Garnet debut, finishing with a time of 55.57 in the 400m and a team-best 25.11 in the 200m dash.
Freshman Aidan DuMont-McCaffrey was the Garnet men's top runner in the 1500 with a time of 4:21.51.
The Garnet outdoor track distance runners return to action on Friday at Princeton. The rest of the teams return with the Osprey Invite at Richard Stockton on Saturday.