Cadets Place Second At Patriot Leagues

Saturday, February 16

Annapolis, MD

All Day

Army West Point

Patriot League Championships

Cadets Place Second At Patriot Leagues

February 17, 2019 | Women's Track and Field

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Army Women's Track & Field team placed second at the Patriot League Championships at the United States Naval Academy Sunday.

The Black Knights were led by a championship effort from senior captain Abby Halbrook, who came from behind three times to win the women's mile, women's 1000m and women's distance medley relay. Her 22.5 points were the most in the meet and earned her Female Track Athlete of the Meet.

Freshman Emily Mikoud set the tone early with a win in the shot put. She was named Female Rookie of the Meet.

COACH'S CORNER: Head Coach Mike Smith
"We got a great team effort from the women today. Our coaches did a great job of preparing the athletes and they went out and executed. We have been second in this meet two years in a row and I know the luster of that has worn off. We came up a bit short, but we are still trending upward and we will continue to move toward the top of the conference. The women want to win a championship.

We have a lot of stars and they were shining all weekend. Calli McMullen has been a champion since she set foot on campus and today was more of the same. She finished second in the 60m and I know that was disappointing, but what a performance. She set a new school record and then came back to win the 200 and set another school record. Her fifth race of the weekend was the 4x400 where we ran the number two time all time at Army. What a competitor. Emily Mikoud's win in the shot was something we have seen coming for some time. Coach Angelo Posillico tried to teach her to spin all fall and she just could not get it to click, so we moved her to the glide about a month ago and since then she has taken off. She gets better every weekend. Brianna White's win in the pentathlon was another predictable outcome given her training in recent weeks. It is hard for anyone to put together a good multi event because so many things can go wrong. It is especially hard for a freshmen to succeed. In only her second pentathlon, Brianna set personal bests in the hurdles, the high jump, and the shot. She was fantastic. The ceiling for her is pretty high. Cassie Mundekis was the one kid we stretched the most. She anchored our 4x800 to a new school record, she raced her way to third in the mile, struggled in the 800 and then brought us home with a great anchor leg in the 4x400. What a competitor. We relied most heavily on Lynne Mooradian this weekend. Maybe we put her out there too much, but she is our most versatile kid, so we count on her often. She finished third in the pentathlon, 4th in the 60h, ran the open 500 and then helped us win the distance medley relay. She is the ultimate team player. Haley Watson came of age today. She has been a developing star for us all season, but she really broke through this weekend. We recruited her to run the intermediate hurdles but recognized that she had a skill set for the 800m and she embraced the change without complaint. Now she is a factor in that race every time she runs it. She almost pulled off the victory in the open 800 today and ran two great relay legs for us on the 4x800 and the distance medley. She has made herself into a very competitive middle distance runner and is a great racer.

The brightest star for us today was Abby Halbrook. I can't say enough about her, but I will try. She was at the prep school when I arrived in 2014. She had been hurt as a senior and had to go to USMAPS as a result. Our first Interaction could not have foretold of the success to come. I think I asked her "when are you going to get in shape?" She may have thought little of that remark, but I wanted to test her commitment. I had no idea that she would become the greatest female distance runner in the history of the academy. The records, the titles, and the star meet wins aside she represents everything the academy stands for. She is grit personified. She is a three-time team captain. Unheard of at this institution. She is selfless and her attention to detail is unmatched. She will do whatever she is asked to do without complaint and if there is a "sure thing" on the track she is it. We put her out there three times this weekend and the result was the same each time. She won. I am fond of saying that everyone can be replaced. We may be able to replace Abby's points and wins, but we can't replace the leader and the competitor. She is that special.

In the end, We had hopes of winning a title and that remains our goal. We will head home, get some rest and then get back to work. Our memory of this will be short."

EVENT WINNERS:
Women's 200m: Calli McMullen - 24.38 (program record)
Women's Mile: Abby Halbrook - 4:53.92
Women's 1000m: Abby Halbrook - 2:51.60
Women's Shot Put: Emily Mikoud - 14.35
Women's Distance Medley Relay: Morgan Chewning-Kulick, Lynne Mooradian, Haley Watson, Abby Halbrook - 11:54.06

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
Women's 60m: Calli McMullen - 7.53, second place (program record)
Women's 800m: Haley Watson - 2:11.67, second place
Women's 4x800: Anna Tovkach, Haley Watson, Hannah Deines, Cassie Mundekis - 8:51.83 (program record)

NOTES:

Under Mike Smith, the team has shown steady year-to-year improvement. The team finished sixth, fourth and fifth from 2015-2017 before finishing second the past two years.

FULL RESULTS: https://results.leonetiming.com/?mid=1571