Track and Field Competes In West Point Open

Saturday, January 6

Army West Point

West Point Open

Track and Field Competes In West Point Open

January 06, 2024 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point track teams competed in the West Point Open today at Gillis Fieldhouse.

On the men's side, they took first place in 10 events. The women's team brought home first in nine events.

The men brought home first, second, and third in the shot put behind solid performances from Robby Manse (15.86), Luke Noonan (15.05), and Luke Campana (14.73). Brian McSweeney took home pole vault crown with a 4.75m. Austin Hernandez won the high jump with a 1.97m jump.

In the women, field events, Kayley Ragazzini took home first in the weight throw. Erin Allert won the triple jump. Isabel Crandall won the pole vault at 3.65m. Thai Douglas won the high jump with a 1.69m jump.

In the men's races, the mile was won by Christopher Verdugo with a time of 4:30.06. Gideon Rothschild won the 1000m by a whole five seconds. Ammon Smith took home the 800m crown with a time of 1:56.79. Shawn Carter won the 500m with a time 1:07.47. Nathaniel Nelson won the 400m. Jaxon Hammond took home first place in the 60m with a time of 6.80. The Black Knights took first and second in the 4x400. Elijah Bellamy, Daniel Sommerhalder, William Gregory, and Alexander Jovanovic took first place. Nathaniel Nelson Ryan McDonagh, Cameron Smith, and Anthony Schmitz took second.

The women's races were headlined by Black Knights take home first through sixth place in the 3000m with Abigial Garner taking first at 10:23.80. Shayla Bonzelet won the 800m with a time of 2:24.42. Kara Sinnott won the 500m with a time of 1:22.30. The 400m was won by Hannah Andrews. The Black Knights 4x400m team of Hannah Andrews, Shayla Bonzelet, Cherokee Chambers, and Kara Sinnott won the the race with a time of 4:11.04.

Next up for Army is the Virginia Tech Invitational on Jan. 12-13.

COACH MIKE SMITH'S CORNER

Men
We scheduled this meet to knock the rust off from winter break. The work that gets done or doesn't get done over break can define the entire indoor season for some athletes. Today we got a good look at some of our team and we had some nice results. Our team returned from the break last night so we didn't compete everyone today. But we did compete a lot of the younger guys. A few of the freshman guys ran well in the 60 meters. Last year we had a hole in our roster in the short sprints and now it might be an area of strength. Our throwers did a nice job in the shot and the weight. We are hoping to see some breakthroughs from those guys as we get going this winter. There is a lot of potential in that group and it looks like they worked hard over the break based on what I saw today in the results. On the whole I thought we did fairly well today with the younger guys on our team doing the majority of the competing. We will learn a lot more next weekend when we head down to Virginia Tech.

Women
Thai Douglas did a nice job in the high jump. She had two personal best marks on her way to the win. She had a personal best in the high jump back in December so clearly she did something right over the break to come out here today and jump higher again. She looked good. Our throwers were also good today. That has been a common theme on this team in recent years and it looks like this will be another strong year for that group of women. Kayley won the weight again and Barbara had a solid first mark of the year in the shot. Those two have anchored our throws group for the last couple of years and they are positioned well for the bigger meets that are coming. On the whole I think we have a strong and complete roster. We have a good mix of veterans and youthful talent. Now we have to perform. We will open up the majority of our team next weekend at virginia tech and we will see what kind of competitive balance we have.