Erin
Koch captured the women's 1000 meter title on Sunday
on the final day of competition at the 2010 Patriot League Indoor
Track and Field Championships. Conor
Sullivan and Colin
Eustis ran to second-place finishes in the men's 1000
meter and men's 3000 meter, respectively, helping the men's team to
fifth place in the team standings.
Koch captured American's only individual title of the meet,
winning the 1000 in a time of 2:57.37. The senior outran Katelyn
Hartnett from Holy Cross to claim the victory who posted a
finishing time of 2:57.88 to take second. Her time bested her
previous personal record in the event of 2:57.56 and is the fourth
fastest time in school history.
"I can't say enough about Erin's competitive nature," Head Coach
Matt
Centrowitz commented following Koch's victory. "She is
very similar to our former All-American's Kiera
Carlstrom and Samia Akbar in that respect and her
competitive nature has gone a long way towards her success this
season. Erin has continued to improve each week and we are looking
forward to what she will do during the outdoor season."
On the men's side, Sullivan placed second in the 1000 meter with
a time of 2:28.90, finishing .05 seconds behind the events winner,
Cody Rome of Navy, who crossed the tape in 2:28.85. He was
followed in sixth place by Chris
Tonn who posted a time of 2:29.92.
American also received a second-place performance from Eustis on
Sunday as the junior was the runner-up in the men's 3000 meter with
a time of 8:25.85. Jeff
Brannigan took fifth in the event with a time of
8:29.67 while Craig
Brown finished eighth in 8:34.49. Eustis's performance
was his second second-place finish at the meet after competing in
the 5000 meter on Saturday.
Brannigan and Brown returned to the track in the mile run later
in the day where they placed third and sixth, respectively.
Brannigan crossed the tape in 4:10.46 while Brown posted a time of
4:16.66. James
Cannon also competed in the mile, finishing
11th in 4:24.77.
"Colin [Eustis], Jeff [Brannigan] and Conor [Sullivan] each had
great meets," stated Centrowitz. "It was exciting to see how
aggressive they were and how their confidence in themselves has
allowed them to take risks. They are my leaders on the men's team
and I'm very happy with the direction they are helping to take us
in."
Rachel
Forcino, fresh off a fourth-place finish in the
women's 5000 meter on Saturday, placed eighth in the 3000 meter
with a time of 10:31.76.
American also received a scoring effort from the men's distance
medley relay team of Sullivan, Tonn, Morgan
Block and Dan
King which took fifth with a time of 10:17.92.
The men's team finished in fifth place overall in the team
competition with 42 points while the women's team placed eighth
with 15 points.