We are still in the middle of track season as the Golden Rams look to continue to reach the PSAC championships and bring the title back to West Chester University. The Golden Rams look to continue to hold on to their momentum from last meet, as they placed very well, and look to do the same this week.
Starting off with the men’s track team from the meet on April 10, the Golden Rams captured three first place finishes. The Golden Rams faced off against competitors from Division II East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Shippensburg, Cheyney, and Philadelphia Universities, along with Division III Neumann, Immaculata, Widener, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Suffolk CC and Scranton Universities. Eric Chapman took first place in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:35.81. Joseph DeCecco landed in first place in the high jump at the 2.00m mark, while freshman, Gurjeet Rai, took first in the pole vault, making it over 4.40. Ghassan Dix (Upper Darby, Pa / Upper Darby) added a second place mark in the 200 meter dash (22.91) and a third place mark in the 400 meter dash (51.70). Gregory Raudenbush put the shot 13.81m for second place in the shot put, while freshman, Bryce Sadler, took third .50m away from his teammate. Raudenbush grabbed two sixth place finishes as well in the discus throw and hammer throw. Nick Robinson finished fourth in the discus (43.80m). Also, we look at some more stats as Josh Coakley took second place in the 800-meter run (1:57.59) and Jim McDaid followed suit in fifth (1:58.22). Ryan Heimbach grabbed a pair of fourth place finishes in the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdle events. Junior Shawn Young followed behind Heimbach with a fifth place finish in the 400 meter hurdle. The Men’s 4×400 ‘A’ relay team scored second place to wrap up the day. The Golden Rams sent junior Colin Vannicolo, who took fifth in the Decathlon, to conclude the last day of the Mondshein Multi on the campus of Kutztown University Friday afternoon. Vannicolo finished with 6,170 points, jumping up two places from yesterday’s end in seventh. Teammate Ryan Foran followed behind five places later in tenth for a score of 5,713 points, while Brody Honeycutt ended the competition in 16th (5,556 points).
The Lady Rams were not far away from the men’s team, as they had a meet on April 10 as well. The Lady Rams dominated this event, capturing seven first place finishes, looking to carry that momentum toward the PSAC. Taylor Pugh grabbed first place finishes in the triple jump and 100 meter hurdles. She leaped a distance of 11.25m and ran at 16.77 seconds. Courtney Taylor took first place in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.80 seconds. Teammate Janna Wilson captured a time of 26.37 seconds to take first place in the 200-meter dash, while finishing two spots behind Taylor in the 100-meter dash (12.95 seconds). Caroline DiJiosia added a first place in the long jump, landing at a 5.09m mark, while Holly Szita jumped for a first place leap of 1.63m in the high jump. DiJiosia also took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles. Caroline McLaughlin won the 400-meter hurdles at a time of 1:05.29. Amanda Castellano finished in third (1:06.10), while Sara Damon took fourth (1:08.85). Both WCU’s ‘A’ relay teams came out with victories in the 4x100m and 4x400m with times of 48.93 seconds and 3:58.49 minutes respectively. Dusellier took second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.00, followed by Emily Magnant in third (1:00.05), Bridget Walt in fourth (1:00.25), and Fells in fifth (1:00.60). Sarah Kosenske ended up in second place in the long jump behind by two tenths (5.07) of DiJiosia. Christine Johnson competed in all three throwing events, leading with a fourth place mark in the hammer throw (43.28m), and a pair of sixth place finishes in the discus and shot put. We also have two new Lady Rams PSAC Qualifiers in Dusellier and Magnant as we congratulate them on qualifying. Also on April 15, West Chester senior Sarah Garner finished in ninth place in the Heptathlon to finish the Mondshein Multi Friday afternoon. Garner ended the two-day event with 3,683 points, three points more than Cortland State’s Kayla Koelbel (10th). Teammate Caroline DiJiosia ended in 17th with 2,911 points.
The Golden Rams look to continue on the road toward the PSAC championships as we switch gears and get ready for outdoor meets.
Marcelus Council-Jones is a fourth-year student. Contact him at MC785844@wcupa.edu