FAIRFAX, Va. – The outdoor track team continued their upward trajectory at the George Mason Dalton Ebanks Invitational (Apr. 4-5), with the women's sprints obliterating two school records. The women's 4x100 squad of Zoe Clark, Tamara Dorval, Ciera Thacker, and Lorelei Bangit broke the AU program record by six seconds, placing second in 47.05. Bangit, Clark, and Dorval returned along with freshman Lara Gin to run a 14-second school record in the 4x400 relay, posting a time of 3:49.86.
 

• On Friday (Apr. 4), sophomore Ciera Thacker ran a PR of 25.49 seconds in the 200 meters to move up to third AU all-time.
• Three women PRed in the 800 meters. Junior Kate Riley added her name to the program's top-10 list at ninth with an outdoor PR of 2:15.67. Junior Grace Kirk and senior Lucia Ianello ran PRs of 2:17.21 and 2:17.81, respectively.
• All three steeplechasers ran personal bests. Senior Danny O'Neill improved his third all-time mark with a time of 9:13.51. Junior Cooper Michaud followed in a 13-second PR of 9:19.23, moving up to fourth all-time. Freshman Daniel Messer won the second heat of the event with a PR of 9:46.32, improving his 10th all-time mark.
• In the women's 5k, junior Skyler Tatum led the Eagles with a season best of 18:31.35. Sophomore Estella Miller ran her second 5k PR of the season, finishing in 18:45.17.
• Freshmen Jaden Frederick and Jacob West both PRed in the 5k. Frederick broke 15 minutes for the first time, running 14:58.48. West improved his time from Richmond (Mar. 21) by more than 20 seconds, running 15:28.52.
• To start the day on Saturday (Apr. 5), both 4x100 relays ran top-10 times. Alongside the women's program record, the men's squad of Jason Omari-Anim, Brandon Williams, Toby Khang, and Malcolm Lewis ran a fifth all-time mark of 42.72 seconds.
• Coming back from a PR in the steeplechase on Friday, O'Neill ran a 10-second personal best in the 1500 meters, placing sixth in 3:51.80. On the women's side, senior Kirah Tianga, freshman Zoe Rector, and junior Sophia Staiger ran PRs of 4:49.63, 4:50.23, and 4:51.18, respectively.
• Grad student Bryn Underwood debuted the 10k to close out the meet on Saturday evening, placing second in 38:38.41. 

Coaches' Corner

"The team is coming into very good mid-season form right now and showing that fitness very well," said head coach Sean Graham. "The sprinters, focusing primarily on relays this weekend, had a great showing. The women's relays crushing previous school records in the 4x400 and 4x100 was excellent. Their first attempt at the 4x100 this season in competition put them at second in the Patriot League, with the 4x400 breaking 3:50 siting in third currently. Ciera Thacker had a great start to the meet for us in the open 200 as well, dipping under 25.5 for the first time with a nice PR. The men's 4x100 also moved the baton well with smooth hand-offs, turning out a fifth all-time performance.

"The women's mid-distance and distance crew had a great weekend with nearly everyone running PRs. In the 800, Kate Riley stood out with a nice PR, adding her name to the top-10 list. In the 5k, Skyler Tatum had a very well-executed race coming into form nicely. The women's 1500 also had a slew of PRs and really great racing near or at the front of all of their heats. Kirah, Sophia and Zoe all finished right around 4:50.

"On the men's side, the steeplers had a very good night. With room for improvement in execution, both Danny O'Neill and Cooper Michaud came away with PRs. Cooper, in only his second attempt, knocked 13 seconds off his first try, now down to 9:19. The two sit at fourth and sixth in the Patriot League currently. Daniel Messer won his heat handily, leading wire to wire. Unfortunately, he hit one of the barriers pretty hard with about 1200 to go, but still coming away with a nice PR and win. Danny O'Neill was then the highlight on day two in the 1500 for the men, running 3:51 about a 5 second converted PR from his big improvement from the indoor mile this year.

"We'll now have a good two weeks of training in prep for some great competition at the UVA Challenge and Hopkins/Loyola Invite."

Next Up
The team will have a week off of competing before splitting between the Virginia Challenge at the University of Virginia (Apr. 18-19) and the Hopkins/Loyola Invitational (Apr. 19).

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AU RESULTS

200m, Women	18. Ciera Thacker, 25.49 (PR)* | 46. Adeline DiPaolo, 26.94
800m, Women	23. Kate Riley, 2:15.67 (PR)* | 32. Grace Kirk, 2:17.21 (PR) | 37. Lucia Ianello, 2:17.81 (PR) | 41. Kara Langbaum, 2:18.36 | 64. Catherine Hany, 2:23.05
800m, Men	50. Zack Zerbe, 1:55.11 | 68. Barak Goldstein, 1:57.43
3000m Steeple, Men	3. Danny O'Neill, 9:13.51 (PR)* | 4. Cooper Michaud, 9:19.23 (PR)* |  13. Daniel Messer, 9:46.32 (PR)*
5000m, Women	27. Skyler Tatum, 18:31.35 | 33. Estella Miller, 18:45.17 (PR) | 42. Hannah Schwab, 19:32.14
5000m, Men	18. Jaden Frederick, 14:58.48 (PR) | 34. Jacob West, 15:28.52 (PR) | 45. Jack Chandler, 16:17.55
4x100 Relay, Women	6. Omari-Anim, Williams, Khang, Lewis, 42.72*
4x100 Relay, Men	2. Clark, Dorval, Thacker, Bangit, 47.05***
400m, Men	43. Owen Garrett, 53.84 (PR)
400m, Women	37. Hannah Puckett, 1:05.69
100m, Men	27. Jason Omari-Anim, 11.09
4x400 Relay, Men	11. Williams, Lewis, Khang, Garrett, 3:24.44
4x400 Relay, Women	5. Bangit, Clark, Dorval, Gin, 3:49.86*** | 12. DiPaolo, Puckett, Langbaum, Hany, 4:14.02
1500m, Men	6. Danny O'Neill, 3:51.80 (PR) | 30. Cooper Michaud, 3:58.64 | 46. Noah Smith, 4:00.43 | 37. Barak Goldstein, 4:00.45 (PR) | 59. Zack Zerbe, 4:12.09 | 66. Daniel Messer, 4:17.24
1500m, Women	31. Kirah Tianga, 4:49.63 (PR) | 32. Zoe Rector, 4:50.23 (PR) | 34. Sophia Staiger, 4:51.18 (PR) | 66. Fiona Murphy, 5:33.05
10,000m, Women	2. Bryn Underwood, 38:38.41 (PR)

*Top 10 Record Book Mark
***New School Record