Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Navy (Women's Star Meet)
Army Women Win Thriller Versus Navy
April 05, 2014 | Track
April 5, 2014
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The 4x400-meter relay team hit the tape first to clinch the Army women's track & field team's 103.5-99.5 victory over arch-rival Navy Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium. The victory marked Army's first outdoor Star Meet win since 2008 and ended Army's 11-meet losing streak, including indoor competition, versus Navy.
"The women came into the meet pretty significant underdogs," head coach Troy Engle said. "We were down our best sprinter on paper and the Academy record holder in the pole vault, but other people stepped up. Even with those people healthy we would have come in underdogs, but the women knew exactly what they needed to do to step up and win the meet. It is probably the best team performance we've had in close to a decade."
Army entered the final event with a 98.5-96.5 lead, meaning a Navy win would have forced a tie. Despite trailing most of the race, Samantha Reid was able to overtake her competitor during the final leg and seal the Black Knights' victory. Reid was joined by Katrina Donarski, Madaline Kenyon and Allie Sutherland on the victorious relay squad.
The anchor leg was part of Reid's strong overall performance that included a victory in the 100-meter dash (12.88) and a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash. Her 200-meter clocking of 25.80 was the fastest by an Army competitor this season.
Jennifer Comfort earned two of Army's 10 victories. Comfort won the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:33.89, the fourth-fastest in Army history, and crossed the line first in the 800-meter run in 2:14.69, the seventh-fastest on the Academy record list.
Army got off to a strong start in the field events with a 1-2 finish in the long jump by Crystal Christian and Cori Lemere, respectively. Their leaps of 5.32 meters and 5.30 meters were the two best by Black Knights this season. Amy Slaughter captured the hammer throw with a heave of 52.12 meters to qualify for the ECAC Championship and list fifth on Army's all-time list. Laurel Neposchlan also added her name to the top-10 list, clearing the bar at 3.55 meters (t-5th).
The field event success continued in the javelin. Justine Rennekamp won the event by surpassing the ECAC qualifying mark for the third time this season (41.57). Morgan Rennekamp finished second with a throw of 34.59 meters. Azeezat Olatunde rounded out the top field-event performances with a discus throw of 45.19 meters. The throw was not only a season best, but beat the ECAC standard and ranked sixth on Army's all-time ledger.
The Black Knights continued to perform at a high level as the competition shifted to the track. Donarski's winning time of 1:00.28 was a season-best, while Lindsey Danilack's second-place clocking of 1:08.42 in the 400-meter hurdles.
Lindsay Gabow and Madison Hill finished first and third, respectively, in the 5,000-meter run. Gabow's time of 17:20.13 was the seventh-fastest in Academy history, while Hill's 17:23.88 was ninth on the Army all-time list.
"There were a lot of great performances today, but Jennifer Comfort and Samantha Reid both had big days," Engle said. "We had a lot of unsung heroes today like our long jumpers going 1-2 and our 5,000-meter runners going 1-3. Either one of them could have won the race, but I'm not sure either one of them could have done what they did without each other."
The Black Knights remain at home when they host the Army 5-Way on Saturday, April. 12.
