The Marquette track & field teams had a historic weekend. The men’s and women’s teams won seven individual titles and recorded the best team finishes in program history at the Big East Indoor Championships at the Armory in New York City.
The Marquette women took third with a score of 114 points, while the men placed fourth with 121 points.
Junior William Koeck was named most outstanding men’s field performer of the meet, after winning the weight throw with a toss of 69 feet, 8.25 inches. Teammate senior Bret Hardin was runner-up in the weight throw with a distance of 61 feet, 1.50 inches.
Senior Carlye Schuh was named most outstanding women’s field performer of the meet. Schuh won the women’s long jump with a school-record leap of 20 feet, 0.5 inches. She was also runner-up in the triple jump with a distance of 39 feet, 3.75 inches, and fourth in the women’s 60 meter dash with a time of 7.64 seconds.
Freshman Joel Swanberg had an excellent meet, winning two individual titles. Swanberg won the men’s 60 meter hurdles in a time of 8.50 seconds, and won the heptathlon with a score of 4485. He also finished third in the pole vault with a vault of 15 feet, 1 inch. Sophomore Tatyana Pashibin won the women’s pentathlon with a score of 3143.
Marquette also dominated the high jump competition. The women had three of the top four places in the event. Freshman Omo Tseumah won with a leap of 5 feet, 8.75 inches, while classmate Bridget Bodee placed third with a height of 5 feet, 5 inches, and Pashibin took fourth with a height of 5 feet, 3 inches. On the men’s side, freshman Oumaru Abdulahi won with a jump of 6 feet, 9.75 inches. Senior Michael Saindon was runner-up with the same height, but Saindon had one more miss at the winning height than Abdulahi.
Sophomore Brett Tobin was runner-up in the men’s triple jump with a personal-best distance of 44 feet, 3.50 inches.
The women’s 4-by-800 meter relay team of junior Krista McClure, redshirt freshman Nicole Ethier, freshman Alison Parker and sophomore Kayla Spencer placed third with a time of 8:20.47. Also, the women’s 4-by-400 meter relay team of seniors Katie Kemmerer, Gretchen Homan and Kate Hein and freshman Anna Strong took fourth in a time of 3:48.28.
Sophomore Anton Rice finished third in the men’s 500 meter dash with a time of 1:04.22, the third best time in program history.
Senior Kristen Gaffey placed third in the women’s shot put with a put of 44 feet, 6 inches, while classmate Kirsten Walker took fourth with a distance of 43 feet, 11.25 inches. Senior Patrick Stuart finished third in the men’s shot put with a put of 51 feet, 2.25 inches.
Senior Abby Croft took fourth in the women’s pole vault with a height of 11 feet, 9.75 inches and freshman Nicole Jaffke took fifth with 11 feet, 3.75 inches.
Freshman Anna Strong finished fourth in the women’s 400 meter dash with a time of 57.21 seconds, while senior Gretchen Homan took fifth in 57.27 seconds.
Some other noteworthy finishes included junior Brendan Franz placing fifth in the men’s 800 meter run in 1:55.18. Sophomore Kayla Spencer placed fifth in the women’s 1000 meter run 2:50.21, and junior Samantha Kennedy took fifth in the women’s weight throw with a distance of 53 feet, 11.25 inches.
The teams have a long break before returning to action Thursday, March 13 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. for the start of the outdoor season.
