Women's Track & Field in First, Men in Second After Day One of the Patriot League Championships

Women's Track & Field in First, Men in Second After Day One of the Patriot League Championships

May 03, 2024 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Through one day of the Patriot League Championships the Army West Point women's track and field team sit in first place and the men sit in second place.

The Black Knights picked up 58 points on the women's side to lead Boston U who is in second with 50.33 points. The men have 59 points and trail only Navy who has 78 points.

Army swept the women's 10,000m. Charlotte Richman took home hold with a time of 36:01.681, Louis Diamond finished just eight one-hundredths of a second behind her, and Sophia Sandy came in third place.

The men brought home the crown in the 4x800m with a time of 7:26.77 from the quartet of Gideon Rothschild, Ammon Smith, Mitchell Burr, and Luke Griner.

Cam Smith brought home the win in the men's hammer throw with a mark of 67.05m, the best throw in all of the Patriot League this season. On the women's side, Emily Fink and Kayley Ragazzini finished second and third.

Ethan Hesson and Brian McSweeney finished second and third in the men's pole vault. Carlos Posey came in second of the long jump with Javan Guevara-Cragwell coming right behind him in third place.

Brooke Stratman took home second in the javelin with a toss of 49.54m.

Jaxon Hammond broke the men's program record in the 100m dash with a time of 10.42.

COACHES CORNER

Women
I thought this was the best day 1 we have had in my 10 years here at the academy. We qualified almost as well as we could expect and our Day 1 point total is more than what I had predicted coming into the meet. We were good. The women in the 10K got things started by finishing 1-2-3. I don't think that has ever happened before and we certainly didn't expect it to happen today. But sometimes good things happen when you give kids a chance to perform. We entered the event with the intent of scoring some significant points but there were a lot of unknowns in the group that we entered. Charlotte Richman '26 had only run 1 10k prior to this morning and it was a disaster. So we put a lot of thought into whether or not we should enter her in it and in the end after talking it through with her, we took the chance. It wasn't a question of whether or not she could be successful in the event, I think it is potentially her best event. But the memory of the disaster last year when she struggled to finish a 10k race in Virginia had to be considered. Louisa Diamond '27 had the leading mark in the conference in the 10k so we knew we would enter her in it but she is a plebe and the conference 10k tends to be a tactical race. So you have to be mature and/or be very disciplined in order to execute the winning race plan. Louisa is a rule follower, and we told her what to do and she did exactly what she was told. Sophia Sandy '24 was the veteran of the group but has struggled with injury and consistency since her breakout season in her plebe year. Her training had been interrupted for about 2 years with injury and issues of consistency and then this winter, things started to come together again for her and she entered the race today in the best shape of her life. We thought all three of those women would be in the scoring places today. But they did better than that. They swept the top 3 spots. The outcome of the race wasn't decided until about 4 miles in. At that point, Charlotte took over what had been a pedestrian pace and started ramping it up to what she felt comfortable running. Louisa was told to match every move that Charlotte made so naturally, she became Charlottes's shadow. Sophia hung back in the 5^thposition and hung on to a pack of Bucknell runners and covered every move that they made. After a mile of pushing the pace, Charlotte and Louisa separated from the field and the outcome was decided. At that point, they applied a little bit of pressure to the last mile but not enough to wear themselves out. I kept urging them to calm down and slow down and they listened when they went by me but then I think they were just too excited to hold back completely so it became a game of making sure they didn't hammer too much because we needed them to save something for the 5k tomorrow. They ran to the line together and recorded the exact same time but Charlotte was given the win. Behind them, Sophia was starting to struggle. She didn't look like she was in command. With a lap to go the Bucknell women started to push and I thought they would drop Sophia, but she hung on. Then with 150 meters to go, she did something that I have not ever seen her do. She kicked. She moved out to pass the Bucknell women and not only passed them, she put distance on them. Her last lap was 73 seconds. It was the fastest last lap run by anyone in the race. Her 3^rd place finish was her best ever placing at a Patriot League championship. The 1-2-3 finish brought home 24 points for our team and gave us a lead that we did not relinquish the rest of the day. Our other big point scorers today were in the field events. Brooke Stratman '24 and Emily Fink '25 both brought home silver medals in the javelin and hammer throw respectively. Both of those women have been key performers for us all season and today they got the job done again. We have more scoring opportunities tomorrow than what I had predicted coming into the meet. If we can execute and "take care of business" we can do well in the overall standings.

Men
We were very good today. Better than maybe I thought we would be. We entered the meet aggressively. We put a lot of people out there in multiple events in an attempt to maximize our scoring opportunities. We took some chances. They paid off. We won the events that we knew we had to win. Cam Smith '24 won the hammer throw with his best throw of the season. His winning throw of 67.05 meters is just short of his all-time best and positions him as one of the best hammer throwers in the East region. He was challenged in the competition but he rose to the challenge as he has done many times before. He has made himself into a national caliber hammer thrower and today he defended his 2023 league title. Our 800 meter men have been a dominant force in the Patriot League all year. We expected to win the 4x800 meter relay and the guys went out and won it convincingly. Their winning time of 7:26.77 is the 5^th fastest time ever run at the Academy and the fastest time in my 10 years here. The outcome was never really in doubt. Gideon Rothschild '24 put us into 2^nd place at the first exchange, Ammon Smith '27 kept us there at the second exchange, Mitchell Burr '24 gave us a 15 meter lead going into the anchor leg and Luke Griner '24 was never even tested as he brought it home for the win. We have won this event in back to back years and when the indoor event is considered, we have won it four consecutive times. It helps to have 3 firsties on there. Those guys have done a lot of winning in the last couple of years. Our guys in the pole vault were strong today as well. Brian McSweeney '25 and Ethan Hesson '24 came into the meet expecting to compete for the win, and they did exactly that. They have really solidified themselves as big meet performers. They always rise up to the challenge when there is pressure and I was proud of the way they competed today in finishing 2^ndand 3^rd. Our long jump men also earned us a 2-3 finish. Carlos Posey '26 and Javan Guevara-Cragwell '25 are also pressure performers. They tend to be at their collective best when there is something on the line and today they battled out there on the runway. I don't think either of those guys was satisfied with their finish but that is because they have such high expectations. I love watching them go down the runway because the really attack the run and put some force into the board. Great performances by both of those guys. As good as those results were, there was more that we did on the track that impressed me. Our short sprinters, all of them plebes, put up some all-time marks and put us in position to score some significant points tomorrow. Trey McGinnis '27, Josh Duncan '27, and Jaxon Hammond '27 all qualified to run tomorrow in 2 events. McGinnis set a personal best in the 400 meters. Josh Duncan looked great in the 100 and got the job done in the 200 and Jaxon Hammond in probably the most impressive performance of the day, dominated the 100 meter qualifying heats running 10.42 seconds. It was the fastest time of the day, the fastest time ever run by an Army track man breaking the mark set by Ben Sims (10.43) in 2016 and set the tone for what could be an electrifying final tomorrow after Duncan qualified with the 2^nd fastest time of the day at 10.50. It was a significant boost for our team to see those results and more impressive given that they are plebes. We were good today. We will need to be better tomorrow if we want to compete at the top of the conference standings.