The University of Rhode Island Women’s track and field team split up over the weekend to compete at both the Raleigh Relays, hosted by North Carolina State University, and the Black and Gold Invitational, hosted by Bryant University.
Friday’s slate of competition saw second-year Lily Saul, fifth-year Hanna O’Connor and fourth-year Molly Sabia run in Raleigh while first-year Alyssa Yankee competed in shot put in Smithfield.
This was Yankee’s first collegiate outdoor appearance, debuting with a 41 ‘8.5 ” mark to place sixth.
Meanwhile in Raleigh, Saul, O’Connor and Sabia all ran personal bests.
Both Saul and O’Connor ran in the 1500 meter, with Saul’s time of 4:34.44 placing her sixth in her heat and O’Connor’s time of 4:36.17 placing her fourth in her heat.
Competing in the 10,000 meter was Sabia, who placed 51st overall with a time of 35:54.68.
Both Sabia and Saul’s performances in their events moved them up to fifth all-time in URI history.
“It’s just really exciting for them because they work so hard,” URI Head Coach Laurie Felt-Melnick said. “It’s a whole new ball game when you’re traveling by flight and then you’re running at 10 at night. I think it was a wonderful experience and all of them did so well.”
Saul reflected on how she was able to bond with her teammates off the track while on the road.
”The small group is always a lot of fun because you get to do things that you couldn’t do with a bigger team,” Saul said.
Day two in Raleigh went similarly for Saul and O’Connor, as they achieved personal bests in the 800 meter. Saul (2:07.75) finished in 26th place while O’Connor (2:12.66) finished in 86th.
“The 800 meter is my favorite race and I’m still learning the 1500 meter, so to be able to [set a personal best] in both was fun,” Saul said.
The rest of the Rams’ roster joined Yankee in their home state on day two of the Black and Gold Invitational.
First-place finishes from fourth-year Virsavia Goretoy in the long jump and second-year Jacqueline Edoro in the triple jump helped lead URI to a fourth-place finish out of 15 teams.
On top of her winning mark of 18’ 6.5” in the long jump, Goretoy finished second in the 100 meter hurdles with a mark of 14.29.
More individual top-five performances came from Yankee (130’ 3”) with a fifth-place finish in discus, third-year Sofia Piccone (17:43.90) with a fourth-place finish in the 5000 meter and fourth-year Elise LePage (4:40.25) with a fifth-place finish in the 1500 meter.
In the 4×800 meter relay, the group of second-year Olivia Skapczynski, second-year Leyla Kvaternik, second-year Linsey Arends and first-year Madeline Till earned third place with a time of 9:45.04.
The second squad of Goretoy, fourth-year Amiyah Santana, fourth-year Sydney Federico and first-year Hileni Mor finished fourth in the 4×100 meter relay (48.80).
With the spring outdoor season officially underway, Felt-Melnick and her team are looking forward to the future.
”We always say that every competition and every opportunity is going to only help us down the road closer to the championship time,” Felt-Melnick said.
The Rams will next compete at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Invitational this weekend, starting at 10 a.m. on Friday.