Men’s track breaks two records at IC4A’s in Boston.
The men’s track and field team traveled to Boston for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships on March 4 and returned to North Philadelphia with a couple of new team records.
Overall, the Owls finished 14th in the competition with strong performances by three sophomores: hurdler Josh McFrazier, distance runner Will Kellar and jumper Gabe Pickett.
McFrazier and Kellar each shattered team records in their respective events.
In the 60-meter hurdles, McFrazier earned a spot in the finals after finishing third in the semis with a time of 8.02 seconds. He then went on to crush a Temple school record, previously set in 2009, with a time of 7.85 seconds in the finals. McFrazier placed second in the event, behind only Sacred Heart senior Bertony Jean-Louis.
Kellar followed McFrazier with a record-setting performance of his own. With a time of 2:25.11 in the 1,000 meter run, Kellar broke a 28-year-old school record. Kellar also earned second place honors, finishing behind Monmouth junior Ford Palmer, who edged Kellar with a time of 2:25.9.
“[Kellar] is a tenacious competitor and also performs well in the classroom,” distance coach Matt Jelley said. “He doesn’t always run a perfect race but he comes pretty damn close. If something needs to be fixed, he will go out the very next race and fix it.”
In addition, Kellar broke a record in an event he is not all that familiar with.
“It was shocking because the first time I ran the 1000 meter event was just back in January,” Kellar said. “[McFrazier’s] final pumped me up and I pumped [Pickett] up. It was a chain reaction. It was a pretty cool feeling.”
Pickett went on to place second in the triple jump event with an attempt of 15.28 meters, equivalent to 50 feet, 6 inches.
Another sophomore jumper, Darryl McDuffie, also turned in a strong performance for the Owls. In the high jump finals, McDuffie landed a distance of 1.9 meters, good enough to earn 11th place overall for the event.
In addition to the IC4A Championships, senior Travis Mahoney competed in the Last Chance Columbia Meet on Friday, March 2 at The Armory in New York. Mahoney, the Atlantic Ten Conference Performer of the Year, broke his own team record in the one mile run with a time of 4:00.43. He had previously set the record on Jan. 28 at the Penn State Invitational.
The women’s track team competed at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships March 3-4 and came out of it with some strong performances and finished tied for 43rd place.
The 4×800 meter relay team, which comprised of juniors Victoria Gocht, Tonney Smith, Jade Wilson, and graduate senior Tamisha Stephens, placed sixth with a final time of 9:02.87.
Sophomore Ambrosia Iwugo, junior Tessa West, Smith, and Stephens made up a 4×400 relay that crossed with a time of 3:46.58 and finished 11th. While the distance medley relay, composed of sophomore Anna Pavone, juniors West and Elizabeth-Paige White and freshman Jenna Dubrow, finished in 15th place with a time of 12:02.72.
Iwugo took 14th place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.35 and in the 500-meter dash Smith and Wilson took 16th and 21st place with times of 1:15.46 and 1:16.34, respectively. Stephens also ran in the 800-meter run and took 31st place with a time of 2:17.33.
Freshman Margo Britton placed 16th in the shot put with a distance of 42 feet 9 inches, while Alanna Owens took 29th with 49 feet 8.5 inches.
Freshman Kiersten LaRoache finished fifth in the high jump indoor pentathlon, as well as seventh in the long jump indoor pentathlon. LaRoache jumped for distances of 5 feet and 3 inches and 17 feet and 6 inches, respectively. She finished in 13th place overall in the pentathlon at the meet.
With the indoor track season coming to a close, Jelley has already labeled the 2011-12 season a success.
“I think our progress has been evident,” Jelley said. “We started to come together and we put together some great performances.”
The indoor track and field team will look to continue this season’s success at the NCAA Championships in Boise, Idaho.
Tyler Sablich and Drew Parent can be reached at sports@temple-news.com.
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