Men's Track & Field Falls to Navy in Annual Outdoor Star Meet

Saturday, April 1

Annapolis, MD

9:30 AM

Army West Point

126

Navy - Star Meet

Men's Track & Field Falls to Navy in Annual Outdoor Star Meet

April 03, 2023 | Men's Track and Field

ANNAPOLIS, MD - Army West Point men's track & field was defeated by a score of 126-77 to Navy in the annual outdoor star meet on Saturday. Army won four of 19 events in the meet, with three coming in field events.

Cam Smith dominated in the hammer throw, winning the event with a 64.33m mark. He was the only thrower in the event to reach above 60 meters and now ranks second on Army's all-time list with the new PR. Chris Barrett posted a 64.81m in the javelin to take home second-place in the event while pacing the Black Knights.

Ethan Hull secured another win for the Black Knights with a 5.06m mark in the pole vault. Javan Guevara-Cragwell led Army with a second-place finish in the long jump with a 6.71m mark. Joshua Gilliard then took first-place in the high jump, logging a 2.06m mark to top a pair of Navy jumps that came in at 2.03m.

Luke Griner posted the lone Army victory in the track events, claiming the top-spot in the 800m with a 1:49.99s time. Nathan Davis paced Army in the 3000m steeplechase, narrowly placing in second with an 8:59.06 time. Garrett Gough recorded a 14:51.30 time in the 5000m to take second-place while Mitchell Burr's 3:46.30 in the 1500m was also good for second place.

FULL RESULTS

Coach's Corner
"The end result was not what we had hoped today. Having said that, the competitive efforts and the resulting marks were outstanding despite some pretty challenging wind, rain, and heat. We jumped out to an early lead with Cameron Smith's win in the hammer. Cam came in with best seasonal mark in the meet but the competition is always fierce at this meet so we knew he would have to be at his best in order to win; and he was. His winning mark of 64.33m (211') came on his first throw and was easily the best throw of his life. He backed that throw up with several other throws over 63m and won handily. I was proud of how he handled himself today in a slick ring with a lot of rain. We followed up that win with a win in the pole vault from Ethan Hull. He had no misses through 5.06 (16' 7") and as it ended up was the only man to clear that height. His win was our first in the vault since 2019. On paper Ethan was the third best vaulter in the meet, but today he was without question the best man out there. He was the most confident and the most technically sound. He has never won a Star meet so today's result was a great ending to his Star meet career. Our third field event win came from Josh Gilliard in the high jump with a seasonal best of 2.06m (6' 9"). Josh is cool under pressure and his winning jump came on his last attempt after both Navy guys had missed. If he missed at that bar, he would have been 2nd, so it was really a winner take all jump. Josh excels in those moments and it was a great win for him. It was his birthday present to himself. On the track we had several outstanding marks from a number of areas but our lone win came in the men's 800 meters. Luke Griner has been the most dominating 800m performer in the patriot league all season and the race he ran today was another commanding performance. He followed the Navy runner for 650 meters and then jumped him coming off the last turn and pulled away over the last 100 to win going away. It was a statement race. It was a team loss today but there were some nice improvements that bode well for the rest of the season." - Director of Track & Field Mike Smith.

Up Next
Army will send athletes to the Bison Outdoor Classic hosted by Bucknell University and the Larry Ellis Invite hosted by Princeton University the weekend of April 14-16.