WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Freshman sprinter
Chloee Dotts set a new school record in the women's 200m dash when the American University track team headed westward to Williamsburg, Va. to participate in the Colonial Relays hosted by William & Mary. There were 11 record book marks and 23 personal records (PRs) among the highlights of the event for the Eagles as they rounded out the weekend.
- The personal record setting started on Friday morning when in the women's 800m Junior Callia Cordasco grabbed a personal best. She was joined in the accomplishment by both of the freshmen that ran the event with her, Grace Kirk and Rowe Crawford.
- On the sprints side, freshmen Dotts and Fernando Ibarra are continuing to make big strides for themselves as they continually progress. Dotts set a personal best and a school record in the women's 200m run, crossing the line in 25.87. She also set a PR in the women's 100m dash.
- Ibarra's time of 10.96 in the men's 100m puts him at third on the school's Top-10 performance list. Additionally, he bested his previous time in the men's 200m to move up from seventh to fifth on the list of schools Top-10.
- Kirah Tianga was among a group of Eagles trying new events this weekend. The sophomore ran the women's 400m hurdles with a time of 1:09.46. The school has only had one other runner attempt the 400m hurdles, so Tianga's time places her second on the list of Top-10 performers.
- To cap off the performances on Friday evening, June Mwaniki ran the 10000m run for the first time in her distance career and earned a first-place overall finish. The junior now sits at fourth all time on AU's Top-10 performers list with her 36:00.90 finish in the event.
- On Saturday, seven of the eight events the Eagles were scheduled to participate in were relays, some of which the program had scarcely run in the past, and for one, the men's 4x1500m, it was the first time the track team had run it, meaning records were set as American builds up the relay and sprints side of their program.
- Dotts, Jessica Bakas, Lucia Ianello, and Kirk were the first ones to take to the track on Saturday and as a foursome in the sprint medley relay (SMR), set a school record above the one other relay team on the list, with their 4:22.32 finish. Similarly, Hannah Schwab, Annie Ripol, Skyler Tatum and Brooke Evans found themselves at third out of three overall teams on the school's all-time performers list with their 20:24.48 finish in the 4x1500m relay.
- Crawford, Kelsey Miskimins, Kate Riley, and Cordasco are now eighth all time on the women's list of Top-10 in the distance medley relay (DMR) event. On the men's side, Tucker Zullo, Carver Morgan, Kaden Kluth, and Nathan Reeves are seventh all time in the DMR as a foursome.
- In the men's SMR, the team of Ibarra, Brian Gutro, Owen Garrett, and Jack Chandler crossed the line in 3:51.52 and now sits at seventh all time on the AU performance list.
- When the team of Cooper Michaud, Danny O'Neill, Row Sullivan, and Ethan Puc took place in the men's 4x1500m relay, they became the first team in AU history to run the race and their finish 0f 16:22.53 sets them as the team to beat in the future.
QUOTES FROM ASSISTANT COACHES PRESCOTT AND MASSEY
"I think it was a great meet overall," said assistant coach Zach Prescott. "There were many opportunities for competitive races, and everyone grabbed their opportunities and ran with them. Particularly, on the distance side, June [Mwaniki] continued to impress and made drastic improvements. Plus, the 1500m group, both on the men's and women's side outperformed what their own expectations were.
"On Saturday, despite unideal conditions for most of the day and the fact that everyone was coming back from the day before they all took the opportunity they had to race and try to find success there in the relays and I think that was fantastic," finished Prescott.
"I think this weekend was very solid," added fellow assistant coach,
Tyra Massey. "Overall, some individuals made marks that are very competitive at the conference level, and that is amazing this early in the season. As a team they gave it their all this weekend whether it was a relay or individual event. As a coach, seeing PRs and school records being broken is all I could ask for. I am very excited for the next meet because it's only going to keep getting better from here!"
KEEP UP WITH US
For the latest on American University Cross Country, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (
@AU_TrackXC) and Instagram (
@AU_TrackXC).
RESULTS
| FRIDAY, MARCH 31 |
| EVENT |
RESULTS |
| 5000m, Men |
46. Alex Murphy, 15:58.56 |
| 800m, Women |
13. Callia Cordasco, 2:19.35 (PR) | 18. Grace Kirk, 2:20.38 (PR) | 44. Rowe Crawford, 2:24.67 (PR) |
| 800m, Men |
50. Row Sullivan, 2:00.72 (PR) |
| 100m, Women |
43. Chloee Dotts, 12.7 (PR) | 65. Neev Agarwal, 13.96 |
| 100m, Men |
25. Fernando Ibarra, 10.96 (PR)* |
| 400m Hurdles, Women |
39. Kirah Tianga, 1:09.46 (PR) |
| 400m, Women |
56. Lucia Ianello, 1:02.71 (PR) | 60. Kelsey Miskimins, 1:03.63 |
| 200m, Women |
36. Chloee Dotts, 25.87 (PR)* |
| 200m, Men |
24. Fernando Ibarra, 22.28 (PR)* |
| 3000m Steeplechase, Men |
28. Danny O'Neill, 9:48.67 (PR)* |
| 1500m, Women |
15. Kate Riley, 4:48.37 (PR) | 45. Skyler Tatum, 4:56.77 (PR) | 52. Hannah Schwab, 4:59.09 (PR) | 67. Brooke Evans, 5:02.41 (PR) | 68. Annie Ripol, 5:04.27 (PR) |
| 1500m, Men |
25. Cooper Michaud, 3:57.89 (PR) |
| 1500m, Men (Invitational) |
4. Nathan Reeves, 3:49.47 (PR) | 5. Kaden Kluth, 3:49.66 (PR) | 6. Tucker Zullo, 3:50.28 (PR) | 11. Carver Morgan, 3:52.87 (PR) |
| 5000m, Men (Invitational) |
46. Oscar Counsell, 15:05.91 (PR) |
| 10000m, Women (Invitational) |
1. June Mwaniki, 36:00.90 (PR)* | 20. Rachael Potter, 38:43.02 |
| SATURDAY, APRIL 1 |
| EVENT |
ENTRIES |
| 1600m Sprint Medley Relay, Women* |
8. Dotts, Bakas, Ianello, Kirk, 4:22.32* |
| 1600m Sprint Medley Relay, Men* |
13. Ibarra, Gutro, Garrett, Chandler, 3:51.52* |
| 800m, Men (Invitational) |
9. Ethan Puc, 1:54.06 |
| 4000m, Distance Medley Relay, Women* |
12. Crawford, Miskimins, Riley, Cordasco, 12:35.57* |
| 4000m Distance Medley Relay, Men* |
3. Zullo, Morgan, Kluth, Reeves, 10:06.19* |
| 4x1500m Relay, Women* |
12. Schwab, Ripol, Tatum, Evans, 20:24.48* |
| 4x1500m Relay, Men* |
9. Michaud, O'Neill, Sullivan, Puc, 16:22.53* |
| 4x400m Relay, Women* |
19. Tianga, Bakas, Maignan, Gibson, 4:27.13 |
* Top-10 Record Book Mark
