After three straight second-place finishes at the conference championships, the men’s track and field team is back on top, taking home a team title at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. The women’s team finished in third place.
This is the second outdoor team title in three seasons for the men’s program. The men scored a whopping 234.50 points, securing a 51-point win over second-place Villanova.
“This (win) meant a lot,” Rogers said. “Being so close in Indoors, the guys just put it out there. We put out a big lead day one and just brought it back day two. The guys were on all weekend.”
The men’s side had four individual champions including All-American sophomore high jumper Daniel Armstrong, who achieved an outdoor personal best this season with a height of 2.16 meters. Senior pole vaulter Joel Swanberg captured his second outdoor title with a vault of 4.95 meters. Junior Brendan McKinney won in the hammer throw and freshman Samuel Johnson won in the long jump.
“We had guys stepping up big time, even with the nasty weather and the weather delays,” Rogers said. “We had people setting personal bests, all-time marks and just great performances.”
Eighteen Golden Eagles finished on the podium. Senior Joshua Word finished in third in his signature 100-meter dash. Junior Connor Boos finished in third in the 200-meter dash at 21.57 seconds, the fifth-best time in program history.
The 4×100 relay team was seeking redemption from last year’s record-breaking season that came to a grinding halt in the outdoor conference meet. However, the quad finished in second place after DePaul edged Boos in the final steps. Despite the undesired outcome, Marquette’s 41.25 second performance was the second-best time in program history.
Other podium finishes included junior Will Wolf in the triple jump, McKinney in the discus throw and senior Will Eggers in the decathlon.
The coaching staff received the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year award on the men’s side.
Meanwhile, the women’s team had a disappointing finish, scoring 162 points and producing only two gold medalists. The third-place finish came after back-to-back outdoor championships.
“We had a few things that did not go quite our way as we hoped,” Rogers said. “We knew coming into the meet that Villanova would be a tough team to beat due to their depth, but we still competed hard and had a lot of great performances.”
Senior Terica Harris led the Golden Eagles with her second consecutive outdoor triple jump crown and third consecutive title. She also recorded a lifetime-best 12.60 meters. It matched the longest jump in program history in either indoor or outdoor conditions dating back to 1992.
Junior thrower Keely Knobbe won the discus throw with a winning distance of 42.81 meters. Fellow thrower sophomore Jenna Rosenthal received second place in the same event with a throw of 40.14 meters.
Distance runners and sprinters fared well despite the poor weather conditions. Senior sprinter Cassy Goodrich finished in second place in the 400-meter race, the 4×100 relay team finished in second place and the 4×800 relay finished in third place.
Individuals will have to wait to see if they will qualify for the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Rounds, which will be in Sacramento, California, May 24-26.
