Swat Track & Field Sends 17 to Conference Championships at Widener Invite
CHESTER, Pa. - The Swarthmore College men's and women's track & field squads had an outstanding showing on Friday and Saturday at the Widener Invitational as 17 athletes would record Centennial Conference championship qualifying performances.
Wickham moved into 8th place on the Swarthmore All-Time Performance List in the 3000m steeplechase.
On the men's team, 11 athletes would bring home qualifying performances.
In the 3000m Steeplechase, junior Chris Wickham would earn a third place finish, clocking in at 9:59.74 and smashing his old personal record by 28 seconds. Wickham also earned eighth place spot on Swarthmore's All-Time Performance list.
In the 100m dash senior Zach Waterfire and sophomore Daniel Ly would both clock in CC qualifying times. Waterfire recorded a time of 12.07 while Ly would finish only two one-hundredths behind him with a 12.09.
Freshman Gabriel Ryan qualified for the Conference championships in both the 200m and the 400m while setting a personal record in both. He crossed the finish line in 24.11 in the 200m and 54.91 in the 400m.
In the 1500m race freshman Brian King would finish in 4:10.77 to qualify for Conferences as well as set a new personal record. Sophomore Charlie Huntington (4:28.13), senior Seth Green (4:34.92), and sophomore Dan Stair (4:52.25) would also set personal records in the race.
On Friday night sophomore Zack Gershenson (35:25.28), freshman Danny Cramer (35:27.84), and junior Alex Breslow (35:53.11) would battle through heavy rains strong winds in the 10000m to qualify for Conference championships. The trio finished 14th, 15th and 17th overall.
In field events, freshman Aaron Moser earned a fourth place finish and qualified for the CC championships in the triple jump with a jump of 38-04.00.
Freshman William King (15:54.17) and junior Patrick Hartnett (16:09.33) each ran hard in the 5000m and qualified for CC championships.
The Swat 4x100m team of Ly, freshman Matt Heck, junior Dan Kurz and junior Chris Mayer-Bacon ran for a season-best time of 46.32.
The women's team added six more competitors to the long and talented list of Swat athletes now heading to the Centennial Conference championships.
Sophomore Kenyetta Givans highlighted the day for Swat with a first place finish in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.63. Givens time not only qualified her for Conferences but is ranked second in Conference. Givens also ran a season best in the 200m with a time of 27.60.
Making her name known in the conference as well, freshman Mariam Vonderheide would clock in the fifth best time in the conference (1:11.76), qualifying her for the Conference championship and earning her an eighth place finish at the invite.
In the 800m sophomores Margret Lenfest (2:23.80) and Katie Gonzalez (2:28.69) both ran for personal records and qualified for the CC championships. Senior Erin Ronhovde would also qualify for CC championships with a time of 2:27.63.
In the field, sophomore Ogechi Irondi would place sixth in the meet in the shotput with a throw of 34-06.75. With the throw, Irondi makes her mark on Swat history with a sixth place mark on Swarthmore All-Time Performance list.
1500m: Freshman Rebecca Painter (5:13.85) qualified for CC Championships in the 1500m while sophomore Hannah Rose (19:54.46) would also qualifies in the 5000m.
The women's 4x400m team of Givans, Lenfest,Ronhovde, and Vonderheide ran a season-best 4:17.30, also ranking them fifth in Conference.
The Swat track & field teams return to action on Thursday April 22 as they compete in the Penn Relays.