In Landover, Maryland, where the Quinnipiac indoor track teams were competing in the NEC championships, it was a pair of freshman for the men’s team who were in the best of form on day one of the two day competition.

Dan Roark won the 3000-meter race with a sublimely fast time of 8:37.44, and in doing so; he qualified for the IC4A championships that will be held two weeks from the 22nd of February. Yet, he was not the only freshman to excel, as Richard Klauber finished in second place with a time of 8:42.05, outpacing Roy Sanderson of Central Connecticut.

Therein, due to the success in the 3000-meter race, head coach Shawn Green told QuinnipiacBobcats.com, “The 3000 was the highlight of the day for us.for two freshmen to win that race was fantastic, but the way they won was inspiring for the entire team.”

That however, was not the lone bright spot of the day for the Bobcats, as John Healey qualified for Sunday’s final race by beating Sacred Heart’s Taylor Dressman to the finish line by twenty-four hundredths of a second with a time of 4:29.75.

Sunday saw Roark cement his claim to being named the Rookie of the meet at the New England Championships, which is the first time in Quinnipiac indoor track history that a participant has achieved such a distinction. His performance in the 5000-meter race was good enough to place second with a time of 15:07.08, with Klauber taking the bronze with a time of 15:12.28.

The stellar performances by the freshman duo led to high praise from Green.

“Dan and Rich ran really aggressive races today.they pushed the pace and set the table for how the race was going to be run. For two freshmen to do that in a championship meet is a really impressive feat,” Green told QuinnipiacBobcats.com.

The Distance Medley Relay team further helped the men’s team place sixth out of twelve by finishing second in a close race with Sacred Heart by posting a very respectable time of 10:33.34 in the process.

The women’s team also was lead by the efforts of a freshman, Morgan Roche, who qualified for the mile race on Sunday by finishing second in her heat and sixth overall with an impressive time of 5:31.32. She also ran well in the 3000-meter race, and in finishing fourth, she posted a sterling time of 10:21.59.

Directly in the wake of Roche finished Abbey Gosling, who posted a time of 10:25.03 in her efforts, to secure a fifth-place finish, posting a personal best time.

Other participants such as Alex Jacob, Jeana Favat and Hannah Donadio posted season best times of 1:02.83, 1:05.62 and 1:04.59, respectively, in the 400-meter race, with Jacob finishing second in her heat.

“We ran some competitive races and I am pleased with our performances. I look forward to seeing what we can do in tomorrow’s finals,” Green said.

Speaking of “tomorrow’s finals,” Green saw several notable performances including a win in the Distance Medley Relay with a time of 12:34.87, contrived by stellar efforts from Roche, Jacob, Katie Beam and Kristen Stevens, who all ensured that the team would repeat as winners in this event.

Roche was not finished performing after the relay event, and in the mile she shaved off twenty seconds off her Saturday time to peak by finishing in third place with a time of 5:11.22.

Senior, Abbey Gosling finished second in the 5000-meter race with an all-time personal best of 18:04.54. The 4×400 relay team also posted a best, albeit a season best, by finishing 4:17.14 thanks to a joint effort from Hannah Donadio, Amanda Duggan, Christina DeBellis, and Jeana Favat.

All in all, while Monmouth eventually won the championship, the women’s team placed seventh out of twelve.

“We had a lot of people unable to compete this weekend.others had to step up to fill in for major roles. I am very pleased with the way they were able to step in and compete,” Green said.

Both teams return to action on Friday, Feb. 27, when they compete in the first day of the New England Championships at Boston University.