The University of Rhode Island women’s track and field team competed in the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championship on Friday and Saturday, placing second for the team’s best finish in a decade.
Along with four event titles, URI had two meet records, one school record and numerous personal bests, making it one of the most successful championship performances in program history.
Fourth-year Lily Saul led the way for the team. She took home first place in the mile with the eighth-best time in program history of 4:44.40 and repeated as champion in the 1,000-meter with a personal-best and meet-record time of 2:46.86, just 2.14 seconds behind the school record..
Along with her personal races, she ran the third leg in the 4×400-meter relay alongside second-year Nyah Santana, first-year Reagan Garibaldi and third-year Abigail Colella, where URI took home first place. Saul’s placements were good enough for her second consecutive Most Outstanding Track Performer award.
“She’s just phenomenal,” Rhode Island Head Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said. “Her goal was to get the conference record in the 1,000-meter, and she did. She’s just a team player.”
In addition to Saul, first-year sprinter Zarah Singleton took home first in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best and meet-record time of 8.39 seconds.
Singleton also placed fourth in the 60-meter race with a URI freshman record of 7.58 seconds, good enough to earn Most Outstanding Rookie Performer.
Garibaldi also ran a freshman record in the 400-meter with a time of 55.74 seconds, a record that stood since 2009. Third-year Olivia Priest also placed second in the pole vault, clearing 12’ 3”.
All of these performances helped Rhode Island score 120 points, just 2.5 points behind Virginia Commonwealth University in first with 122.5.
“I did not know that we would be that close once again,” Feit-Melnick said. “We were fifth last year as a team, so when I talked to the team, I said top three would be awesome. We had a great day one, and then day two was awesome, so my expectations were absolutely exceeded.”
The Rams were able to jump three spots on the leaderboard, courtesy of a 44.5-point improvement from last year.
“We had such a phenomenal meet,” Feit-Melnick said. “Obviously, you’re building all season, but our team rose to the occasion. It was stressful with having a major storm and not being able to practice, so they did such an amazing job.”
With the momentum of personal bests and record-breaking performances, the Rams will travel to Boston to compete in the New England Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday.
