Army with Best Championship Finish Since 2006

Sunday, February 18

Lewisburg, PA

TBA

Army West Point

Patriot League Championships

Army with Best Championship Finish Since 2006

February 18, 2018 | Women's Track and Field

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point women's track and field team placed second at the Patriot League Indoor Championships, the team's best finish since 2006.

At the end of the 2018 Patriot League Indoor Championships, Army placed second overall with a score of 154, just four and a half points behind the leader, Bucknell.

This score was Army's highest since 1995 when the team finished first with a score of 169.

Coach's Quotes

"When we first looked at the scoring for this meet we realized that we could be in the hunt to win it if we guessed right on the entries and everyone competed to the best of their ability," said head coach Mike Smith. "But going into today I thought we would need to have some things fall our way for us to have a shot at the title and that is exactly how it played out."

"We were almost as good as you could expect today. I don't know if we really could have squeezed anything more out of our women than what they gave out there. The meet came down to the final event which is always the 4x400m relay and there is really no event more exciting than that relay. We told the women going into it that the team outcome was in their hands and that they had to beat Bucknell. And then hope for the other schools to do the same and knock them back. They went out and ran the best race of the season, but it wasn't enough to win the meet."

"We outperformed our expectations so while we leave here disappointed that we couldn't pull it off we are buoyed by how close we came. After the meet I talked about how close we came and I could see the fire and determination on the faces of the women as I addressed the future with them. We have outdoor ahead of us now, so we will get some rest and then push forward toward another season."

"There were some outstanding Individual performances by our women today. We had champions in the 200, 60, 1000m, triple jump, weight, and shot put. Briyah Brown was named the field athlete of the meet. She has been so good for so long that we take her points for granted, but this weekend she was simply unbeatable. Calli McMullen was dominating in the sprints. She won each of her races and then ran a tremendous leg on our 4x400m relay. She is a great competitor. Bonvie Fosam made the final of the 60m and then came back to win the triple jump. She was in fourth going into the final 3 attempts and had to leave the competition to go run the 60m final. When she came back she had the best jump of the meet. It was great to see a freshman respond that way."

"Abby Halbrook is the fiercest and most dependable female that I have ever coached. What she does and how she does it cannot be taught. We took a risk in putting her into the 1000m without a seed time knowing that she would be in a heat with the slower competitors. We hoped that she would be able to win the event by running a faster time than everyone else in the seeded heat and she went out and did exactly that. She told us that she would do whatever it took to help win the meet and then threw down a personal best time, number 2 all time at army in a solo effort that put the pressure on Bucknell. The 18 points that we scored there with Samantha winning the fast heat of the 100m really closed the gap with Bucknell. It was great execution."

"There were so many great performances I can't go through all of them. I am proud of what the women did here and I know that we have brighter days ahead of us."

Track Events

Abby Halbrook clocked in at 4:58.06 in the mile run which was good for second place. She was followed by teammate Samantha Coletti in fifth with a time of 5:02.51.
Lynne Mooradian claimed third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.95, and was followed by Asia Chen in eighth with a time of 10.36.
Calli McMullen won the title in the 60m dash, clocking in at 7.58 seconds. Yasheika Beckaroo clocked in at 7.76 seconds which was good for sixth place, and Bonvie Fosam closed out in eighth place with a time of 7.88.
Haley Watson placed fifth in the 500m with a time of 1:15.60.
In the 800m, Hannah Deines finished in sixth place with a time of 2:14.86. Cassie Mundekis placed eighth with a time of 2:15.26.
Army took first and second in the 1000m. Halbrook won the title with a time of 2:51.47, with Coletti close behind with a time of 2:53.91.
McMullen finished in first in the 200m dash with a time of 24.72. Emily Malone took fourth place with a time of 25.26.
Bethany Nunnery clocked in at 9:54.74 in the 3000m which was good for third place. Kate Sanborn placed ninth with a time of 10:07. 57.
Army placed second in the distance medley relay with a time of 11:59.04. The team consisted of Morgan Chewning-Kiluck, Emma Record, Mundekis, and Andrea Karlen.
In the 4x400, Army finished in third with a time of 3:51.10. The team consisted of Mooradian, Watson, Chen, and McMullen.

Field Events

Olivia Gervan claimed ninth in the high jump with a final height of 1.60m.
Briyah Brown finished first in shot put, throwing for a distance of 14.82m. Carrie Wasdyke followed in seventh with a distance of 13.40m.
Bonvie Fosam won the triple jump with a final distance of 12.05.

Up Next:
The Black Knights will travel to the FastTrack Last Chance Invitational on Feb.24

For more information on Army West Point women's track and field, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.