The AU men’s track and field team finished fifth overall and the women placed eighth at the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The school also captured the women’s 1000-meter title, and junior Colin Eustis finished in second for the men’s 5000-meter event.
On the second day of competition, Eustis placed second in the men’s 5000-meter event. He finished with a time of 14:33.72. Eustis’ time was fourth-fastest in school history and was faster than the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America qualifying time. Meanwhile, senior Rachel Forcino took fourth place for the women. She crossed the line with a time of 17:58.19 and picked up four points for the team.
Forcino and Eustis were not the only ones to earn points for AU. Josh Olsen and Ryan Williams finished the 5000-meter in fourth and sixth place, respectively. The men’s 4x800-meter relay team of Morgan Block, James Cannon, Dan King and Conor Sullivan finished in sixth place with a combined time of 7:49.61. The women’s team consisting of Tina Thomas, Natalie Omundson, Katherine Hekker and Erin Koch posted a time of 9:57.45 in their version of the event and also placed sixth.
Sophomore Zach Wright placed eighth in the men’s high jump with a final jump height of 1.94 meters.
After day two of the championships, the AU men sat in fourth place with 14 points and the women were in eighth place with five points.
On the last day of competition, Koch took the women’s 1000-meter title with a time of 2:57.37. She beat the College of Holy Cross’ Katelyn Harnett by .11 seconds. Koch’s time is the fourth fastest in school history. She captured AU’s only individual title of the meet.
“I can’t say enough about [Koch’s] competitive nature,” Head Coach Matt Centrowitz told AU Athletics. “[Koch] has continued to improve each week, and we are looking forward to what she will do during the outdoor season.”
Sullivan placed second in men’s 1000-meter for AU. His time was .05 seconds behind the first place time of Navy’s Cody Rome. Sullivan finished with a final time of 2:28.90.
Eustis had another strong showing on the last day of the championships. He placed second in the men’s 3000-meter event with a time of 8:25.85.
The day’s other top finishers included junior Jeff Brannigan who finished third in the mile run. The men’s distance medley relay team was able to finish in the top tier of the competition. AU’s team consisted of Sullivan, Chris Tonn, Morgan Block and Dan King. They finished fifth with a combined time of 10:17.92.
Forcino followed up her fourth-place finish on the prior day with an eighth place effort in the women’s 3000-meter. She posted a time of 10:31.76.
After three days of competition, the first of which AU didn’t compete, the men finished in fifth place overall, and the women finished in eighth place. The men totaled 42 points, while the women totaled 15. There were eight teams that competed in the championships.
Bucknell University finished in first on the women’s side of things with 168 points and the Army Black Knights totaled 165 points to finish first in the men’s competition.
You can reach this staff writer at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com.
