Track & Field Competes at Penn Relays

by Joe Quirk '23 on May 4, 2023
Sports Co-Editor


Friar Sports


Joseph Quirk ’23

Sports Co-Editor

From Thursday, April 27 through Saturday, April 29, the Providence College track and field team traveled to Philadelphia, PA to compete in the Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. Numerous Friars found success in Pennsylvania, including Marcelo Rocha ’23GS, who won the 10,000-meter race with a time of 28:53.41. Fellow Friars David McGlynn ’23GS and Shane Coffey ’24 finished the same competition in second and fourth place respectively. McGlynn’s time of 28:59.86 was a personal best for him, as was Coffey’s time of 29:22.84. The men’s distance medley relay team, which consisted of Tim Dolan ’23GS, Brett Lehman ’25, Josh Lewin ’24, and Zane Powell ’26, ran a time of 9:44.50. That was good enough to earn them fifth place in the event. 

In the women’s 10,000-meter event, Orla O’Connor ’23GS also set a personal record with a time of 34:33.43, which was good enough to grab her a fifth-place finish. After O’Connor got the event started for the women, Lilly Tuck ’23 competed in the 5,000-meter. She earned a personal record in the event, with a time of 15:56.57, which in turn earned her third place in the event. Following this, the women’s team competed in the Championship of America distance medley relay. The relay team consisted of Kimberley May ’25, Niamh Gowing ’23GS, Alex O’Neill ’23, and Shannon Flockhart ’24. The women set a program record with a time of 11:00.03 and earned themselves a sixth-place finish overall in the event. 

On the final day of the event, the Providence College women’s team sent a relay squad to compete in the Championship of America 4×1500 meter relay. The team consisted of O’Neill, Flockhart, May, and Jane Buckley ’26. The squad earned first place in the event with a time of 17:11.35, which became a new program record. The last time the Friars won this particular event was 1991, when a squad of Anita Philpott, Geraldine Nolan, Natalie Davey, and Geraldine Hendricken set the previous school, and at the time, world record of 17:22.30. 

Photo Courtesy of PC Athletics

Following their dominant run at the Penn Relays, the Friars will have a brief break before returning to Pennsylvania for the Big East Championship. The championship, which will take place on May 12 and 13, will be hosted by Villanova University. Runners for both the men’s and women’s team will look to not only compete for Big East titles then, but also secure themselves a spot in nationals.