The UNF men’s and women’s track and field team’s had to deal with unfavorable weather and flying shoes at the FSU relays March 26-27.
The UNF women’s track and field team finished the meet in third behind Troy University and the meet-hosts FSU.
“The meet was a difficult one for everyone, with frequent rain interrupting events, destroying momentum and causing the team to have to skip several events,” said assistant head coach Julie Stackhouse, in a press release.
In the 3000 meter relay freshman and junior runners Erin Heasley and Jessica Villemaire took second and third, finishing just behind UNF track graduate assistant Angela Tecco, who ran separate from the team. Another UNF athlete that stood out on the first day of competition was freshman Andrea Bridges, who took second place in the high jump and third in the shot put.
During the second day of the relays, the UNF women held onto second place, tied with Syracuse University, despite the delays caused by the persistent rain.
Junior Ashton McGuire took second place in the javelin throwing portion of the heptathlon, with a 35.55m throw, only 12 cm less than the first place thrower.
Freshmen Laura Ragland and Brooke Baumann finished in the second and third place for the 1500m, finishing one second apart from each other along with freshman Rachel Stanley, the new record holder for the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:04.24.
After two days of sitting in second place the Ospreys fell into the third place standings, with athletes posting great results for all three days.
Will Pearce ran for a second place finish for the UNF men’s team in the 5000m; finishing ahead of 16 other runners after running with only one shoe for the last quarter-mile. Along with Pearce’s showing, senior Patrick Canfield took fourth in the 10,000m.
“Will showed a lot of determination today by finishing his race without his shoe,” UNF head track and field coach Mark VanAlstyne said. “Because not only did he finish, but he managed to pull off a really good time and still finish in second.”
Leading the men’s team was freshman Cameron Dickerson who finished in third for the 800m and freshman Mike Strasser finished in fourth in the 1500m.
“We are really looking forward to the meet at Duke to see how many of our athletes will qualify for the Penn relays,” Stackhouse said. “It will many of our players first time at Duke and it will definitely be a new experience.”
The Ospreys will continue to compete at the Duke Invitational April 3-4, in North Carolina.
