Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Patriot League Championships
Women's Track Takes Third at Patriot League Championships
May 02, 2015 | Women's Track and Field
WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Army West Point women's track & field team concluded day two of the Patriot League Championships as the third-place finisher, earning 122.5 points from Shea Stadium at West Point.
On the afternoon, the Black Knights earned seven top-five finishes, including five in the oval and two in the field.
"I thought both of our teams performed very well today," said head coach Mike Smith. "I was impressed with the way our kids competed. We had some things not go our way and we responded in other areas by stepping up and that's what happens at track meets. It's never over and when things don't go our way you've got to respond, you've got to find a way to get the job done. We had that happen in a lot of places today.
"On the women's side we got third after a disappointing indoor conference meet where we were sixth. I thought it was great the way we competed today and we had areas where we felt like we lost some points, getting the disqualification in the 4x100m relay where we dropped the stick, and then we came back and won the discus on our last throw."
Cody Rothschild earned the Patriot League title in the discus throw, recording a career-best and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) qualifying mark of 45.16m. Christina Harris placed seventh with a mark of 40.61m and Briyah Brown earned eighth with a toss of 39.40m.
Brown earned a second-place mark of 15.05m in the shot put to surpass the ECAC standard and bring in her second top-two finish of the event. Harris earned seventh with a toss of 12.01m and Rothschild placed eighth with a mark of 11.99m.
"I thought our throwers across the board were outstanding, particularly on the women's side where we won the women's discus on the last throw, we got second in the shot with a huge improvement and we just had great performances across the board when we needed them," added Smith.
The 4x400m relay squad of Natalie Dent, Courtney Smith, Madaline Kenyon and Haley Winters claimed a dramatic second-place finish with an ECAC time of 3:47.92.
Winters earned a pair of third-place marks in the 100m dash and 200m dash, posting times of 12.02 and 24.49, respectively.
In the 5000m run, Lindsay Gabow took third with a time of 17:18.75. In the 400m dash, Dent placed 11th with a time of 58.52.
"We got second in the 4x400m relay and improved six or seven seconds on our yearly best," added Smith. "We had people step up when we needed them to step up. Lindsay Gabow came back today and I only told her she was running the 5k five minutes before it started and we needed her to get some points so we could try to get third, and she said `ok I will,' and then she goes out and gets third. Just a gutsy performance by her and our whole team really."
Plebe Smith brought in a pair of top-10 marks, capturing second in the 400m hurdles with an ECAC qualifying time of 1:01.77 and placing sixth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.58.
Rachel King earned an 11th-place mark in the 3000m steeplechase, clocking a time of 11:37.42.
Three Black Knights earned top-20 times in the 1500m run, led by Jennifer Comfort who earned 14th with a time of 4:43.72. Nicole Carter placed 17th with a time of 4:46.74 and Elizabeth Moton placed 19th with a time of 4:49.05.
In the 800m run, Katrina Mecklenburg posted a time of 2:21.60 to finish 21st and was followed by teammates Katrina Donarski in 25th with a time of 2:23.02 and Courtney Dooley in 27th with a mark of 2:26.21.
"I thought both our men and our women achieved what we could achieve," said Smith. "I can't really ask for more. I'd like to win and I'd like to say that we were going to win and I'd like to say that we did, but for us to get second and third, I think those are significant performances. It was the first time our women have scored over 100 points since 2008 and it's our first third-place finish since 2010. I thought if we got to 120 points that we could get to third. We got 122.5. In both cases we exceeded what we thought we could score at this meet and our places were good.
"I thought we just had a great meet and I'm proud of the way our teams competed today."
Army West Point will next compete at the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Princeton, N.J., on May 15-17. The first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships will follow on May 28-30 in Jacksonville, Fla., with the finals to take place on June 10-13 from Eugene, Ore.
Visit www.GoArmyWestPoint.com for up-to-date information and follow the Black Knights on Twitter @ArmyWP_TrackXC.
Players Mentioned
