By Katie Zigelman, News Staff
Senior captain Althea Charles won two throwing events while sophomore Tejorn Davis competed well in two jumping events, leading both the men’s and women’s teams to second place finishes at the Roadrunner Invitational in Mahwah, N.J.
The women’s team had a total of 115.50 points, behind only St. Peter’s College with 168.50 points. The men’s team finished with 95 points, just 11 points behind Ramapo College.
“Last weekend was really exciting,” Charles said. “I’m from New Jersey so my parents came to the meet and I got to see some of my high school teammates.”
Charles won the shot put with her season-best throw of 42 feet, 9.75 inches and the hammer throw at 194 feet, 6 inches. This was the second-best hammer throw in school history.
“Althea was home,” head coach Sherman Hart said. “She was home and breathing Jersey air and she let it rip. She put on a show.”
Charles is not the only one who performed well for the women’s team. Sophomore Rachel Taback threw the discus 130 feet, 6 inches for the win. She also finished third in the hammer throw with 152 feet, 10 inches. Freshman Olivia Stevens jumped 37 feet, 10.5 inches to win the triple jump.
In the running events, the team had three victories and two third-place finishes. Junior Christiana Gallagher won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.05 while junior teammate Courtney Mortimer finished third just two seconds later. Freshman Danielle Klein ran the 5,000-meter run in 18:33.70, followed by junior Lindsay Kosinski, who finished in 19:14.41. Junior Laura Coyne had the final victory in running events for the women with a 4:52.72 time in the 1,500-meter run.
For the men’s team, freshmen Max Milder and James Hall and senior Alex Iannetta dominated the hammer throw. Milder finished first (178 feet, 10 inches), Hall second (173 feet, 7 inches) and Iannetta third (168 feet, 8 inches).
Senior Patrick Jablonski threw the shot put 50 feet, 4 inches for the victory.
Davis finished second in both the triple jump with a 46-foot height, and the high jump with a 6-foot, 1.5-inch height.
“I did pretty well and was out ahead in the beginning and then one of the other jumpers pulled ahead,” Davis said. “You win some, you lose some. There was good competition down there.”
Junior Joe Sirava (siravo) finished second in the 5,000-meter run in 15:56.99. Freshman Charles Ebbs threw the discus 137 feet, 5 inches for third place and junior Brian Daly pole vaulted over 14 feet, 1 inch, also for a third place finish.
This was a smaller meet for the team and many of the athletes did not compete. With most of the athletes who already qualified for the major meets at the end of the season taking a break, the coaches were able to focus on those who have not.
“We had the opportunity to work with the athletes we don’t work with as much,” Hart said. “They did well, I was very pleased. They were very competitive.”
As captain of the women’s team, Charles talked about how team members stick together and always cheer each other on. Even when they are competing on different fields the team tries to check in with each other.
“We have a good sense of Husky pride,” Charles said.
Next weekend the team is traveling to Durham, North Carolina for the Duke Invitational April 8-10.
“We’re bringing all the people who have qualified for the big meets to see where we are at,” Hart said. “We are about halfway through the season and we want to see how good we are going to be. A lot of the athletes have been on a rest so I’m hoping to see them come out with peak performances this weekend.”
