The University of Rhode Island women’s track and field team opened the outdoor season at the University of Central Florida’s Black & Gold Challenge on Friday and Saturday, competing in 15 events and recording multiple top-10 finishes.
“It’s an opportunity for our sprints, jumps and some of our 400 and 800-meter runners to experience a high-level meet,” URI Women’s Track & Field Head Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said.
Friday’s competition featured athletes competing in the javelin throw, long jump, hammer throw, shot put, 400-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash.
Fourth-year sprinter Joyce London finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.76. Third-year Alyssa Yankee took eighth in the hammer throw with a mark of 173’ 11”, and second-year Norah Kobaly placed ninth in the javelin with a throw of 112’2’’.
“Joyce London was seventh in the 400 hurdles,” Feit-Melnick said. “Her [personal best] New England, [Eastern College Athletic Conference] time of 61.76. This made Joyce our eighth-best individual all time, and she’s currently ranked second in the A-10, so that was awesome.”
Second-year Macy Daigle started Rhode Island strong on Saturday, getting the Rams on the board in the high jump with a mark of 5’ 7.75” to finish in fifth place.
“A [personal best] New England and ECAC mark,” Feit-Melnick said. “That ties her for the team sixth-best individual all-time. Her mark is now leading the A-10 in the high jump.”
Rhode Island can leap high and jump far; URI held two top-10 finishes in the discus throw. Second-year thrower Mae Gall came in eighth with a finish of 140’ 9”, and Yankee finished 10th with a mark of 134’ 4”.
“We really had a nice meet there,” Feit-Melnick said. “This is a very high-powered meet with a lot of schools from all over.”
First-year Zarah Singleton turned in a strong performance in the 100-meter hurdles prelims, finishing in 13.79 seconds. She narrowly missed qualifying for the finals, finishing just .02 seconds behind eighth-place finisher Eva Bruce of Central Florida.
“It was a huge run for Zarah,” Feit-Melnick said. “This was a [personal best], tying her for our sixth-best individual all-time. Zarah is leading the A-10 with her time in hurdles at 13.79, so definitely a very competitive hurdle field for her not to make the finals. We’re really excited about the rest of the season.”
The team of third-year Abigail Colella, second-year Nyah Santana, first-years Anna-Rose Merchant and Reagan Garibaldi would finish with a time of 3:48.64 in the 4×400-meter relay, taking eighth place. Garibaldi also had a good performance in the 200-meter dash.
“Reagan was second in her 200-meter heat with a [personal best] New England time,” Feit-Melnick said. “This makes Reagan the team’s 10th best individual all-time, and she is currently ranked third in the A-10 in the 200.”
Next, the Rams will continue their outdoor slate and stay in-state for the next two weeks, starting with the Jaylin Rainford Invitational at Bryant University, taking place on Friday and Saturday. This will be followed by the Ocean State Cup, happening at Bryant on April 3 and April 4.
Although it is early in the outdoor season, Feit-Melnick hopes her team will perform well.
“You never know what New England weather is going to look like,” Feit Melnick said. “We’re looking to put in some good weeks of training and taking advantage of good competition.”
Rhode Island performed well at the invitational last season, placing sixth out of 16 teams with 45 points.
