Track & Field Finishes Fourth in Landmark Championships
The team finished its indoor season with a fourth place finish at conferences. Courtesy of CatholicAthletics.com
By Jared Prenda
The Catholic University of America indoor track and field team competed in the 2018 Landmark Conference Championship held at Susquehanna University. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished fourth at the meet on Saturday, February 24th. The fourth-place finish is the highest team finish in program history.
Freshman high jumper Schola Eburuoh had the most impressive individual performance for the Cards. The rookie set a new school record with a mark of 11.32 meters as she won gold in the event. Eburuoh also placed second in the high jump with a mark of 1.62 meters. Her efforts would earn the freshman Field Athlete of the Meet Honors, and her impressive debut season earned her Field Athlete of the Year honors from the Landmark Conference.
For the men’s team, sophomore Joseph LaPointe delivered one of the top performances of the day. He won the silver in the mile in a photo-finish race as he came in second by a narrow .03 seconds, with a time of 4:24.63. Senior Brian Seward won the bronze in the 400-meter as he finished with a time of 51.80 seconds. Seward also placed fifth in the 200, crossing the finish line at 23.25 seconds, less than one second off the pace.
Senior Kiera Lyons took home third in the 3,000 as she edged out Moravian’s Sarah Hughes by .43 seconds with a final time of 10:47.25. She also finished fourth in the 5,000 with a time of 18:56.69. Rookie Tara Thornton paced sixth in the 800 at 2:27.19 while classmate Victoria Carlini finished in seventh at 2:28.83. Senior Erin McNulty posted one of her quickest times of the year in the mile with a time of 5:38.69 to finish sixth.
Freshman hurdler Mike Dreitlein took home bronze in the 60-meter hurdles for CUA with a time of 8.97 seconds. Senior Brandon Johnston qualified for the finals of the 60-meter dash and finished in sixth overall with a time of 7.37 seconds. Sprinters Derek Chapey (52.62) and Cosmo Pirozzi (52.73) finished in sixth and seventh respectively in the 400. Pirozzi also took home seventh in the 800 with a time of 2:03.87
In the field events, senior Dustin Vanella took seventh in the weight throw with 12.99 meters. Juniors Chadd Ziegler and Dillon Frawley finished second and third respectively. Ziegler cleared 4.40 meters while his classmate cleared 4.25 meters.
On the women’s side, junior Andrea Galeano won gold in the weight throw with a mark of 15.02 meters. Senior Eileen McAlonan placed sixth in the long jump with a mark of 4.61 meters.
Catholic’s relay teams also had strong days in the final meet of the indoor season. The women’s distance medley team took home bronze with a time of 13:06.68. The men’s 4×400 team finished in second with a time of 3:29.75 while the 4×200 team’s time of 1:35.45 earned it a bronze.
