by Alexis Barton
As the second phase of students returned to campus, the indoor track and field teams were breaking records as they hosted the Finn Pincus Invitational. The meet marked the first competition for the team in 2022, and they surely made an impression. The Maroons played host to a combination of both conference and non-conference teams, with 18 total teams competing.
In the men’s competition, two school records were broken over the course of the weekend. Despite his second-place finish, junior Sam Crawford took nearly an entire second off of the school record set by Zaan Janse in 2010. His final time was an impressive 50.61 seconds, a mere 0.68 seconds behind the first-place runner from out-of-conference Catawba College. Freshman Brady Fowler also made a name for himself in the 60M dash, where his time of 7.03 seconds topped the school record by 0.01 seconds. There were several top-three finishes for the men, including Xavier O’Brien in the 60M hurdles (runner-up, 8.47 seconds), Cooper Neeble in the mile (third, 4:26.60), Elijah Lotharp in the high jump (third, 5’10.75″), and Youssef Labriny in the weight throw (third, 38’6.75″).
The women’s competition also brought lots of success for the Maroons. In the 200M, Eleanor Hinckley and Mikayla Hefferon put up a strong effort for the Maroons with a first-place and sixth-place finish, respectively. Hefferon also went on to grab the runner-up spot in the 400M with a time of 1:01.60. In the 60M dash, Hannah Snodgrass fell just short in a close race where she was behind the first-place runner by just 0.23 seconds. Other top performers from the women include Eleanor Hinckley and Kaitlyn Nguyen in the high jump (tied for third, 4’11”), and Hannah Koepfinger in the long jump (runner-up, 16’8″), The competition was rounded out by a star performance from Grace Fowler, who took the top spot in the weight throw with a distance of 44’8.75″.
The Maroons hope to continue this success as they head into the rest of their season. Up next, the team will be traveling to Lexington, VA to compete in the VMI Winter Relays. Make sure to come support your Maroons when they come back to campus to host the Joe Larocco Invitational on February 5th. Go Maroons!
