Junior Sprinter Anthony Delasanta competes at the A-10 championships. |Photo courtesy of Michaela Benford.
The University of Rhode Island’s men’s and women’s track and field teams were in action this past weekend competing in the 2019 Holy Cross invitational and the 2019 Princeton Larry Ellis Invitational.
Both teams competed in Worcester, Massachusetts as part of the Holy Cross Invitational on Saturday while just Lotte Black and Leah Wolf of the women’s team competed in Princeton, New Jersey at the Larry Ellis Invitational. In Princeton, Wolf finished fourth in the javelin with a throw of 42.75 meters. Black competed in the 1500 meter and finished with a time of 4:17.28. With this time, Black broke her previous record in this event. This is the third record that she has broken so far in the outdoor season and the sixth record she has broken in her junior year.
At Holy Cross the women’s team had a standout Saturday as they had six different first place finishers. In the 200 meters the Rams claimed the top five finishes. Junior Kelly MacDonnell won the event with a time of 25.12 seconds, followed by senior Carleisha Forteau who finished second in 25.18 seconds. Freshman Xiana Twombly finished this event in third in 25.23 seconds, sophomore Bethany DeLoof finished just behind her in fourth with a time of 25.25 seconds and senior Mikaila Amerantes finished in fifth with a time 25.26 seconds. Amerantes also won the 400 meters in 55.51 seconds while MacDonnell finished in second and DeLoof finished third.
The 4×100 meter relay team that consisted of senior Natalie Sopchak, juniors Gabrielle Curtis and Kristina MacLure and freshman Trinity Smith won the event, finishing with a time of 3:51.21. MacLure also won the 100-meter hurdles finishing in 13.99 seconds. Once again the Rams took the top three spots in this event, as Smith and Curtis finished second and third respectively with times of 14.27 seconds and 14.70 seconds.
The Rams also had two first place finishers in throwing competitions. Sophomore Molly Botts won the hammer throw with a throw of 52.45 meters, which also set a new URI record. Fellow sophomore Julia Campezato won the javelin with a mark of 39.67 meters. The Rams finished second overall on Saturday with 155 team points as host school Holy Cross finished in first with 200 points.
Rhody’s Men’s team also had an outstanding Saturday as well. At the Holy Cross
Freshman Kellen Waters also had a first place finish as he won the 1500 meters in 3:55.61. Junior Anthony Delasanta won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash events with times of 10.75 seconds and 21.28 seconds respectively. The Rams also won the 3000-meter steeplechase as senior Timothy Slack finished in first with a time of 9:52.02.
Rhody wasn’t finished winning just yet as junior Joe Maguire won the 5000 meters in 14:57.85. The Rams also took the top three spots for a second time in an event when junior Eric Wicks won with a jump of 1.90 meters. Sophomore Quindel Wilson finished second and freshman Jack Reichenbach finished third, both with the same distance as Wicks.
The Rams also saw success when it came to the throwing events. Freshman Andrew Birgin won the shot put with a throw of 15.49 meters and sophomore Derek Jacobs won the discus throw with a mark of 46.52 meters. The Rams also picked up another victory in the hammer throw as senior Thomas Vadis placed first with a throw of 58.54 meters.
Sophomore Johnathan Buchanan finished second in this event with throw of 54.54 meters and freshman Jide Akinjisola finished third with a 48.45 meter throw as Rhody took the top three spots in an event for the fourth time on Saturday. The Rams won the Holy Cross Invitational with a total of 273 team points.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be competing in the Penn Relays on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27. The men’s team will also be competing in the Brown University open on Sunday, April 28 and the women’s team will also be in action at the Stonehill Skyhawk Invitational.