Women’s indoor track enjoyed highlights on both the individual and team level last weekend at the ECAC championships in Boston.
Saturday, freshman Kristen Stevens finished seventh in the 5000 meters with a time of 17:00.72. Then, the Distance Medley Relay team set a school record while also placing seventh in 12:00.62 Sunday.
Track head coach Shawn Green was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I’m thrilled with the pair of seventh-place finishes for us this weekend,” Green said. “Kristen Stevens had a great weekend. She ran a great 5K and then the anchor leg the next day in the DMR. That is really an impressive performance for a freshman.”
Green also gave praise to his senior runners. “Erin O’Connell and Joanna Perez closed out [impressive] careers indoors and Chelsea Bollerman also ran great and has a lot of great years ahead of her to look forward to. This was a great cap to the indoor season for the women and I’m very happy.”
Stevens became the second Quinnipiac athlete to score at the ECAC championships, earning two points for her effort in the 5000 meters. She is also just the second Bobcat runner to earn All-East honors at the ECAC championships. She is the first freshman to record either accomplishment.
The DMR team also earned All-East honors.
Senior co-captain Erin O’Connell began the DMR by running the 1200 meters in 3:39 before passing the baton to sophomore Chelsea Bollerman who finished the 400 meter section in 62 seconds. Senior co-captain Joanna Perez then finished the 800 meters in 2:21 setting up Stevens to finish the relay covering the mile in 4:58.
The same team set the previous school record of 12:01.28 Feb. 23 at the New England Championships.
Quinnipiac scored four points, finishing 40th out of 51 scoring teams. Connecticut won the meet with 61 points. The women’s outdoor track team starts their season Mar. 24 at Monmouth.
The men’s track team’s DMR squad posted the second fastest time in school history at the IC4A championships in Boston Saturday.
The DMR team finished 12th in the preliminaries in 10:04.09.
Junior Jacob Gurzler’s leading time of 3:02 in the 1200 meters was followed up by sophomore Steve Pilch’s split of 51.8 seconds in the 400 meters. Junior Jim McDonald then finished the 800 meters in 1:53 seconds to set up freshman Tyler Dinnan’s anchoring 4:15 mile run.
McDonald and Dinnan set personal records in only the second DMR time below 10:10 in school history.
“The men did just amazing,” Green said. “That was a phenomenal DMR and they really ran great and were very competitive.”
Gurzler also competed individually, finishing 19th in the preliminaries of the mile run in 4:15.20.
Neither Gurzler nor the DMR team advanced out of the preliminaries. Cornell University won the meet with 50 points. Men’s track next runs competitively at the start of the outdoor season, Mar. 24 at Monmouth.
