Army Sits Second After First Day of League Championships

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Both the Army men's and women's track and field teams sit in second place after the first day of competition at the Patriot League Championships.

Though most of the day consisted of preliminary competition, the Black Knights were able to claim three gold medals, winning individual titles in the men's and women's weight throw and the women's 4x800meter relay.

Abigail Green was the highlight of the day, breaking the Army and Patriot League Championship records in the weight throw with a 19.49-meter toss. JamirGibson was victorious on the men's side with a mark of 19.11 meters.

The Black Knights claimed three preliminary victories and qualified for each of Sunday's events. Competition will begin at 10 a.m. with field events and 11 a.m. with running events.

COACH'S CORNER: Head Coach Mike Smith
(On men's meet)
"We qualified pretty well today on the track and had a balanced day in the field events. We also had some bad luck when Justin Young couldn't go in the hurdles. But that is how it goes at a championship. We have to get some points from other areas when we have missteps or injuries. You just hope that those issues are not too damaging.

This is a different format for the patriot league championship. We added preliminary trials in all the running events through the mile and that makes for a little different strategy in how we enter the meet from years past and there is a greater premium on wins. We got a win today and we will need more tomorrow.

The weight throw was the highlight. Our four guys (Michael Renard, Devon McNeal, Jacob Staufferand JamirGibson) have been putting up great marks all year and today was more of the same. They all threw well. Renardhad a great series ,but Jamirwas the one who was putting up the biggest marks. He has been getting better and better so it isn't a surprise to see him win another title. We have a lot of strengths on our team but our throwers have become the most dominant group in the conference. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's shot put to see what those guys can do.

We held our own today in the other event finals. The 5k was a lot like the cross country dual meet between Army and Navy. We each scored the same number of points and we dominated the top-8 places. There will be a lot of that tomorrow in other events and where we finish relative to them will determine which team wins the meet. It will take around 240 points to win the meet. If we are going to get there we will need a lot of things to go well. We have the opportunities we just need to capitalize."

(On women's meet)
"We qualified pretty well today, now we need to finish the job tomorrow. This is a different format for the Patriot League Championship. We added preliminary trials in all the running events through the mile and that makes for a little different strategy in how we enter the meet from years past.

All in all, it was a strong day in a lot of areas. But like in any championship, you have some ups and downs and you just hope that in the overall scheme of things, you get the points that you need.

The weight throw was a strong event for us today and Abigail Green was the star. She put together a great series and hat that huge throw that got the school record and the conference title. She is a great competitor and has started to really figure out how good she can be.

The other win for us was in the 4x800. We thought we would qualify a couple more women through to the 800 final and the women took it as a challenge to go out and dominate the relay and they did just that.

The majority of the points will come tomorrow and we have a lot of opportunities to score. If we finish well in our events, we will be just fine in the final standings. The most we have ever scored in the meet is around 160 and it will take a little over 200 points to win it. We have. A lot of opportunities tomorrow, so now we need to go out and get the wins."

CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS:
Women's Shot Put: Abigail Green – 19.49m (Academy and PLC Record)
Men's Shot Put: JamirGibson – 19.11m
4x800mRelay: Madeline Magoto, Haley Watson, Hannah Deines, Anna Tovkach– 8:59.43

Preliminary Winners:
Women's 60m Hurdles: SaydeeAganus– 8.80
Women's 200m Dash: Calli McMullen – 24.56
Men's 200m Dash: Kedrin Jefferson – 21.52

FULL RESULTS: http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Mitchell_Timing/Patriot_League_Indoor_Track_and_Field_Championships/index.html

UP NEXT:The Black Knights will fight for a championship in the final day of the Patriot League Championships on Sunday. Competition begins at 10 a.m.

Army West Point Athletics

Army Sits Second After First Day of League Championships

Related News

Players Mentioned

Hannah Deines

Abigail Green

Kedrin Jefferson

Madeline Magoto

Calli McMullen

Michael Renard

Jacob Stauffer

Anna Tovkach

Haley Watson

Justin Young

Related Videos