December 5, 2011

PRIDE PLACES WELL AT REGGIE LEWIS TRACK CENTER

The Regis College indoor track and field team competed in its season opener this past weekend at the Reggie Lewis Track Center. The Pride wasted no time setting school records and posting some solid performances in early-season competition.

Boston, Mass.-The Regis College indoor track and field team competed in its season opener this past weekend at the Reggie Lewis Track Center. The Pride wasted no time setting school records and posting some solid performances in early-season competition.

With the largest men's team to date, the squad's predominantly freshman roster performed exceptionally well for their first collegiate meet. Freshmen Jeremy Israel (Boston, Mass.) placed 18^th out of 45 athletes in the 400-meter dash, also posting a new record (52.80s) in the process. His mark broke both the indoor (53.01s) and outdoor marks (53.34s) set by Adam Heathman one year prior.

Meanwhile, fellow-freshman Paul Gionfriddo (Burlington, Conn.) re-wrote the men's shot put record in only his first outing with the 16lbs implement; his mark of 10.92meters betters Bobby Ryan's indoor mark of 10.90meters. The third record of the meet was set by Owen McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.), a freshman distance runner whose time in the 3,000-meter run became the first mark for that distance in the men's team young history.

Other top performances from the meet included Chandler Davies (Hartford, Conn.) posting a leading time of 23.87s in the 200-meter dash (finishing 22^nd out of 87 athletes). Alex Tran (Lawrence, Mass.) started off strong in the 55-meter dash, just missing the men's record held by current co-captain Schallum Dorleans.

Capping off the meet in stellar fashion was the men's inaugural 4x400 meter relay. Israel and Davies would join up with Ryan Manning (Hanover, Mass.), and Alpha Ibrahim (Pennsauken, N.J.) to finish in a close second in their heat. The quartet also set a qualifying mark for the Division III New England Indoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 3:37.99 minutes.

On the women's side, freshman Cheyenne Genga (South Windsor, Conn.) did some record-rewriting of her own as she posted two times on the Regis College all-time performance list. On route to winning her heats, Genga ran 8.06s in the 55-meter dash, and 28.38s in the 200-meter dash, ranking 4^th in both events for the women's list. Her fellow top recruit and training partner, Sashae Walls (Everett, Mass.) also broke 29s in the 200, running 28.95s, a mark that will quickly be improved upon as Walls makes up for lost training after a suffering a strained quad.

The Pride will be back in action for one more meet before the semester closes this Saturday when the team travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts to participate in the Harvard Invitational

Full results available at:

Women - http://gonu.com/sports/2011/12/3/WTRACK_1203110611.aspx?id=2243

Men - http://gonu.com/sports/2011/12/3/MTRACK_1203110529.aspx?id=2242