This past weekend the men’s and women’s track and field teams travelled down to Boston University to compete in the ECAC/IC4A Championships. The men’s team led by senior thrower Zach Astle yet again took sixth place out of 37 teams. The women’s team led by senior runner Meg Champagne took eighth place out of 42 teams.
Astle had another great performance this past weekend breaking his personal best in the shot put with a distance of 57’6.5”. The shocking aspect of this is that while Astle broke his own record, his throw was only good enough for a third-place finish. Head coach Jim Boulanger commented on what may have thrown Astle off.
“The disappointment was in his last throw the start spangled banner started to play when he was set up and they pulled him out of the ring.” When asked if this had ever happened before, Boulanger responded saying “No, so mentally it was very tough on him.”
Astle also lost the weight throw on day one finishing in second and losing an event for the first time all season. Once the weekend concluded, Astle left the two-day meet without a single win for the first time all season.
On a more positive note junior jumper Jordan Buckmire broke his own school record in the triple jump setting a new personal best of 49’7.75” Boulanger spoke about Buckmire’s record-breaking performance. “It should have gone much earlier in the season, he got healthy at the end, he had two or three weeks where he could do some sprint training… he probably had the best series he had all winter.”
For the women’s team, Champagne led the way for the second week in a row this time winning the 5000 meter run with a time of 16:48.49 which is her new personal best. Junior runner Caroline Mahoney also scored in the 5000 meter run finishing not far behind Champagne in third-place with a time of 16:59.13.
On day two for the women, senior Michaella Conery, sophomore Zakiya Scott, sophomore Lauren Dean, and sophomore Nicole Yeomans took first place in the distance medley relay finishing with a time of 11:44.77 which blew away even the second place finisher (Rutgers) who finished four seconds behind the Wildcats.
Two weekends from now, the men’s and women’s track and field team will transition to the outdoor season as they head down to Raleigh, North Carolina to compete in the Raleigh Relays. This will take place over Friday, March 27 and Saturday March 28.
