Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Patriot League Championships
Army Fifth Following Second Day of PL Championships
February 22, 2014 | Track
Feb. 22, 2014
LEWISBURG, Pa - Junior Christopher Kittle captured the Heptathlon, freshman Jose Santana broke the school and meet marks in the 60-meter dash, and Amy Slaughter was runner-up in the 20-pound weight throw as the Army men's and women's teams stand fifth at the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field championships following the second day of competition.
The Army men totaled 31.33 points to trail leader Lehigh (66), second-place Navy (45.83) and third-place Boston University among eight teams.
On the women's side, Slaughter's toss of 54 feet eight inches in the weight throw (54-8) ranks third on Army's top 10 chart. Sophomores Haley Winters and Avrie Welton qualified for the finals in the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, respectively, as Army collected 18 points the second day.
Lehigh is also the leader in the women's events with 66 points followed by Boston University (42) and Navy (37) rounding out the top three teams in a field of 10 teams.
In the heptathlon, Kittle trailed first-day leader Ryan Paquin by 157 points, but quickly overcame that deficit with firsts in the 60-meter hurdles (8.56) and pole vault (13-7.25), along with a second in the 1000-meter run (2:54.25), to be crowned the champion with a career-high 4959 points. He outpointed runner-up Chris Castello of Lafayette by over 300 points.
Kittle's mark tied with Rod Manzo for the second highest score in school history. Manzo set his mark at the Patriot League Championships, also at Bucknell,in 2004.
Santana, who has been burning up the circuit all season, tied the Patriot League meet record of 6.85 following a first in the prelims in the 60-meter dash, then snapped it in the semifinals in beating the field in 6.84, which also broke the school mark of 6.85 that he co-shared with Alfred McDaniel (2010).
The Army sprinter also qualified in the 200-meter dash behind a 21.95 in the semifinals to earn a trip to Sunday's championship finals.
The 4x800-meter relay team of Nathan Fisher, Clyde Wilson, Ian MacPherson and Dylan Chamberlen beat the field with a time of 7:34.43 that met the IC4A Qualifier and is the third fastest time in school history. It is the second straight year that Army won this event as the Black Knights lowered last year's winning time of 7:40.75.
Three Black Knights qualified for the 60-meter hurdles with Taylor Andrews heading into the finals with the second fastest qualifying time of 8.28, along with Nick Beavers (8.43) and Marcus Phillips (8.59).
Senior distance runners Kendall Ward and Ricardo Galindo picked up nine points between them in the 5000-meter run posting times 14:25.3 and 14:30.66, respectively, in meeting the IC4A qualifying standard along with season bests. Ward's clocking is the 10th fastest time in school history.
In the finals of the high jump, junior Ernest Holland placed seventh leaping six feet, 2 ¼ inches with Kittle tying for eight place (6-0.5).
The women turned in strong showings with Winters among the top eight qualifying for the 60-meter dash following a fifth-place clocking of 7.79. Winters lowered her time of 7.9 recorded in the prelims.
Welton made the cut in the 60-meter hurdles clocking a time of 9.10 after posting a 9.12 in the prelims.
The women's 4x800-meter relay team of Rachel King, Katrina Donarski, Elizabeth Moton and Alexandra Sutherland combined their efforts to clock a 9:21.63 to earn fourth place along with an ECAC qualifying time.
Finishing seventh were Lindsay Gabow in the 5000-meter run (17:34.39) and senior Christian Crystal in the long jump (17-06.75) in rounding out Army's second-day performances. It was the first time that Gabow competed in the 5000-meter run this season, and despite competing in the slowest section, managed to finish among the leaders along with meeting the ECAC qualifying standard.
"Chris (Kittle) winning the heptathlon was the high point of the day from an individual standpoint, along with the men's 4x800 meter relay's first-place showing and Amy's (Slaughter) performance, said Army head coach Troy Engle.
"We feel very good about the first real day of competition, and set ourselves up for the finals. Both teams performed as well or better than expected across the board of events, and I am booking for an exciting final day on Sunday."
