Women’s Track & Field Encouraged by First Meet of the Year
Senior distance runner Kiera Lyons won the 3000-meter (10:57.37) and finished fourth in the mile (5:25.40). Courtesy of CUACardinals.com
By Jared Prenda
The Catholic University of America women’s track and field team kicked off the 2018 part of its indoor season this past Saturday when the team traveled to Collegeville, PA to compete in Ursinus’ Collegeville Classic. The team placed ahead of 8 other teams and 11th overall.
Freshman Abby Grabowski has been a breakout star for the team in the first few meets of her career. In her first meet a few weeks ago, she set the school record for the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.82. This past meet, she came .02 seconds shy of her own personal record with a time of 9.84, which earned her a top ten finish in the event at 6th.
Fellow freshman Victoria Carlini also posted a top-ten performance in the 800-meter dash as she finished with a time of 2:35.69, placing her 7th overall in the event.
The team is filled with excitement over the early success of these prospects. Sophomore distance runner Emily Schubert commented on their addition to the team.
“We’re going to have a very successful season because of our freshmen, Abby and Vicky, who have had very strong performances and we’re still early in the season,” Schubert said. “If they keep this up we will have a very strong team going into conferences at the end of the year.”
Senior Kiera Lyons had a standout day for the Lady Cards as she won the 3,000-meter race by more than ten seconds with a finishing time of 10:57.37. Lyons also finished 4th in the mile with a time of 5:25.40. Her efforts earned her Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week in track and field. Sophomore Alex Filiault also ran the event in 5:58.86, which was good for 15th overall.
The entire squad is looking to improve throughout the year and are happy but not content with its early season success.
“This meet was definitely a good assessment meet, especially for the freshmen,” Schubert commented. “But if we keep up our training and working hard at practice, we will definitely have a strong indoor season and we’re going to go places this year.”
The team will return to action this Friday and Saturday, January 26th & 27th, when it competes at George Mason in nearby Fairfax, Virginia for the George Mason Patriot Games. The team looks to improve throughout the year and carry its success with them into the outdoor season.
