Geneseo’s track and field teams complete sweep at regionals

After both teams earned their sixth-straight SUNYAC title on Feb. 25, Geneseo’s men’s and women’s track and field teams sent out to compete in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships in New York City on Friday-Saturday, Mar. 3-4. Each team competed against a field of more than 40 schools, claiming first place in their respective divisions. 

The women’s team dominated their competitors, scoring 82 points and beating out second place by 24. This was the second straight season that the Knights have come out on top at the AARTFC Championships, as they scored 108 points to take first place last year as well. The meet was highlighted by the team’s performance in the 800-meter run as four Knights came in the top five finishers, with senior Windsor Ardner finishing in first and setting a new meet record with a time of 2:12.51. Trailing just behind were sophomore Janelle Eckl (second), senior Raechel Zielinski (fourth), and sophomore Nieve Mahood (fifth). The team scored a total of 27 points in the one event alone, paving the way for the rest of the meet. 

The Knights scored another 11 points in each of the 3000-meter and 5000-meter runs, putting them even further ahead of their competition. Sophomores Lilly Fowler-Conner (second) and Gabby McCarthy (sixth) finished well in the 3000m, while sophomore Penelope Greene (first) and junior Katherine Vogel (eighth) crossed the line in the 5000m. 

 Also at the meet, grad student Gwen Shepardson totaled seven points for the Knights after finishing third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.73 and eighth in the 200-meter dash at 25.61. Sophomore Katie Grossman later finished fifth in the mile run with a time of 5:09.14 and tacked on another four points for Geneseo. In the two relays (4x400 and 4x200), the Knights came away with top-four finishes totaling eleven points for the team in the final track events of the meet. 

In the field competitions, junior Zoe Connor finished third in the weight throw, totaling 16.68m and six points in the event. Junior Michelle Fitting added the last five points for the team after scoring 3048 points in the pentathlon.

The men’s team also came out on top in a close race as they finished with 72 points, beating second-place Cortland by six. The Knights finished first in two events during the meet with sophomore Lance Jansen finishing ahead of the pack in the 200-meter dash coming in at 21.60 and earning ten points for Geneseo. Senior Ezra Ruggles claimed first in the mile run with a time of 4:06.03, two seconds before fellow senior Nick Andrews crossed to come in second. The pair totaled eighteen points for the Knights in the event. 

Geneseo kept racking up points in their races, with three Knights finishing in the top ten in the 400-meter dash. Freshman Jacob Miller (fourth), senior Jason Rappazzo (fifth), and sophomore Jason Goldszer (eighth) claimed ten more points for the team. Another 13 points were awarded as sophomores Stephen Hoare (second) and Matthew Sheehan (fourth) impressed in the 800 meter. 

In the final two track events, junior Alex Hillyard racked up five points and finished in fourth with a time of 15:00.01 while the team’s 4x200 meter relay placed second with a time of 1:28.59 and earned eight points. Sophomore Bryan Jacobs pulled in eight points in Geneseo’s lone field event while finishing second in the long jump with 7.10m. 

While the victories should come as no surprise given their recent successes, both teams performed extremely well at the meet and will look to keep up their winning ways as they head to Birmingham, Alabama to compete in the NCAA Championships on Friday, Mar. 10.