Four laps down and a few meters to go, freshman Catherine Hany scrunched her face in persistence as she drove her feet across the finish line to secure first place in the women’s 800-meter run. Accompanied by fellow freshman Kara Langbaum, the two were paced by teammate and distance veteran junior Grace Kirk.
“So right when [Grace] stepped off, she kind of told me before the race that’s when you go, pick it up and make sure the pace doesn’t slow,” Hany said. “So when I saw her step off I was like, ‘okay, now it’s my turn.’”
Hany finished with a new personal best of 2:19.05, beating her previous by one second. Langbaum finished in second place with a new personal best of 2:19.21.
The American University men’s and women’s track teams headed back to George Mason to compete in the Father Diamond Invitational on Feb. 21. The teams competed in a total of 14 track events and two field events, bringing home 16 personal bests and two new school records.
The trip to Fairfax, Virginia, was a training mission for the Eagles. Both assistant coach Zach Prescott and three athletes agreed the team should run hard and take risks to prepare for the rest of the season.
“It was a great weekend. I mean, we definitely used this more of a tune up for Patriot League,” Prescott said. “So it’s a race, but it’s definitely a lot of training benefit that we get out of it, and that’s mostly what we use it for.”
The women’s team started the meet off for the Eagles with the 60-meter dash semi-final round. Freshman Tamara Dorval took a swift second place with a 7.77 second run, and sophomore Lorelei Bangit took third with a 7.85 second run — a new personal best — earning a place in the Eagles’ Top Ten Record Book.
Following the historic 4-minute mile record set by junior Kaden Kluth at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, freshman Daniel Messer showed up for the men’s team in the mile run and finished in second place with a new personal best of 4:18.06.
Freshman Zack Zerbe, who was a few runners behind Messer, fueled some healthy competition as he picked up the pace in the last 100 meters to finish third with a 4:18.37 personal best, as the sea of fans went wild.
“I really didn’t want him to beat me,” Messer said with a laugh. “We were talking smack all week.”
The Eagles kept it moving in the 400-meter dash with only one runner from both teams. Kirk had an immediate lead and was able to fight off opponents as they rounded the curves, allowing her to finish in first with a new personal best of 1:01.26. Junior Owen Garrett ran in the men’s heat, finishing ninth with a 55.47 second run.
Sophomore Hannah Puckett represented the Eagles in the women’s 500-meter dash as Prescott kept up the energy from the sidelines. Puckett ultimately came in third with a time of 1:25.94.
“In a quieter space, in a low-pressure meet, sometimes you have to bring the energy up a little bit,” Prescott said.
The 200-meter dash came late in the day for the Eagles, however, the women’s team was ready for the challenge. Freshman Zoe Clark raced to a second-place finish and a new personal best time of 25.63. Clark was followed by junior Chloee Dotts not far behind her, who finished fourth with a 26.34 time. For the men’s team, freshman Brandon Williams crossed the finish line in 22.64 seconds, finishing in first place.
The Eagles men’s and women’s teams found each other again in the second to last track event of the day, the 3000-meter run. On the women’s side, graduate student Bryn Underwood broke a new personal best of 10:08.51 after finishing in second place.
Meanwhile, all three of the men’s team runners finished with personal bests. Sophomore Hayden Hauser finished fourth with a time of 8:48.55, followed by freshman Jacob West in ninth with 8:59.34 and junior Jack Chandler in eleventh with 9:13.88.
For the first time this season, the women’s team represented the Eagles in both the long and high jumps. Clark reached a new personal best of 4.83 meters, leaping to fourth place. Freshman Darcy Scheiner was not far behind, coming in sixth with 4.49 meters and a new school record.
Freshman Lara Gin successfully took on the high jump, finishing second with a 1.60 meter jump, a new personal best and school record.
The exciting 4x400 relay rounded out the day as always with the men finishing second with a time of 3:37.66. Despite anticipation for the women’s team to compete in the race, a successful busy day of training races and personal bests led to the team ultimately not racing in the 4x400 relay.
The Eagles’ regular season is over, but the teams will head to Annapolis, Maryland on March 1 to compete in the Patriot League Championships, hosted by Navy.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Hannah Langenfeld and Nicole Kariuki.
