Men’s and Women’s Track Team Aim For Higher Goals

by npatano on April 7, 2022

Friar Sports

Stephen Foster ’22

Sports Staff

The Providence College Men’s and Women’s Track Teams have begun their spring track season. They have participated in two tournaments so far, the Raleigh Relays and the Black and Gold Invitational.

Taylor Newman ’23, who runs sprints for the PC Women’s Track Team, described the team’s goals this year, explaining, “This season, some goals for the team are to support one another every day and push each other to be the best athletes we can be. Continue to break our own personal records as well as school records. We hope to all stay healthy and avoid injury. Moreover, continue to foster the development of positive mental attitudes.”

The teams certainly seem to be on the right track with breaking personal and school records, as many times have been bested already across only two tournaments.

The Friars opened up their season at the Paul Derr Track and Field Facility in Raleigh, NC for the Raleigh Relays.

This season opening tournament was hosted by North Carolina State University on March 24-26.

Notable performances by the men’s team include AJ Ernst ’22 finishing 12th in the 1,500 meters, David McGlynn ’22 setting a personal record and moving into sixth place all-time in PC history with a time of 29:04.9 in the 10,000-meters, and Abdel Laadiel ’25 breaking the Irish Junior record (which has been the same for 50 years) with a time of 29:33 in the 10,000 meters.

Notable performances by the women’s team include Nicole Borowiec ’23 recording a time of 14.98 in the 100 meter hurdles to break the PC record, Niamh Gowing ’22 finishing with a time of 56.87 in the 400-meters to move into third in the College’s history, Hawa Grear ’24 running a time of 12.61 in the 100-meters to rank second in PC history, and Meg Hughes ’24 recording a time of 63:64 in the 400-meter hurdles to set a new PC record.

The Friars had a short break in the action before taking a trip to Bryant University to run in the Black and Gold Invitational this past weekend on Saturday, April 2.

In this tournament, PC had 15 members of their program finish in the top five for their events.

On the men’s side, Liam Back ’24 finished first and set a meet record in the 800 meters with a time of 1:52.21. Angus White ’22 finished second, right behind Back, with a time of 1:53.74. The Friars finished in first, second, third, fourth, and sixth place in the 1,500-meters thanks to Michael Morgan ’25, Patrick Thygesen ’24. Ryan Gallagher ’22, Josh Lewin ’24, and Matt Lepine ’22 respectively. Brett Lehman ’25 recorded a time of 49.64 to place third in the 400 meters.

On the women’s side, Meg Hughes ’24 broke her own school record in the 400 meters with a time of 61.34, just over two seconds faster than her previous time. Nicole Borowiec followed suit, finishing third overall and breaking her own school record in the 100 meters hurdles with a time of 14.90. Niamh Gowing ’22 won first place in the 400 meters with a time of 56.74, and Alex O’Neill ’23 won first place and set a meet record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:09.17. Halle Atkinson ’23 and Kimberley May ’25 ran close behind O’Neill, finishing second and third, respectively.

When asked what her takeaways were from the Black and Gold Invitational, Taylor Newman ’23 emphasized how proud she is of her team for their effort and performance in the meet and how she believes they are only getting started.

Newman detailed, “Some takeaways from the Bryant Black and Gold Invitational are that we showed some real promise with a number of the girls achieving personal best times so early in the season.”

She also added, “We have time to improve in some areas, but it was a great start. As the weather gets warmer and we continue to train hard and put the time in, the team has the potential to make even more improvements on race times as the season continues.”

The PC Men’s and Women’s Track Teams will host and participate in the Friar Invitational this Friday, April 8, held on Ray Treacy Track at Hendricken Field.

This will be their only home meet of the season, and the Friars are looking to defend their home turf with vigilance.

Newman shared her excitement for the tournament, explaining, “It will most likely be 10 to 12 of the top teams in New England and New York. The team hopes that everyone competes to the best of their ability, while supporting one another. It should be a great night in Friartown!”

Track enthusiasts and fanatics can head down to Hendricken Field or tune in to FloSports (found on the Providence College athletics website) on Friday night at 5:00 p.m. to see the PC Track Team in action.

Sports Shorts

by Joshua Lopes on April 15, 2021

Sports

Sports Shorts Week of 4/8-4/15

By Liam Tormey ’22

Sports Assistant Editor

Men’s Lacrosse:

Over the weekend, the Providence College Men’s Lacrosse Team hosted St. John’s University at Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium in a Big East matchup. The Friars dominated the contest, winning by a score of 19-9. Matt Grillo ’22 and John Hoffman ’23 led the way for the Friars. Grillo finished the evening with five goals, putting his tally up to 20 for the year, while Hoffman was right behind him with four. Toby Burgdorf ’21 recorded 15 saves in the contest. The Friars are now 4-6 on the year and 3-5 in Big East play.

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field:

Last Friday, the PC Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Teams competed at the Ocean State Invitational. For the men, AJ Ernst ’24 won the mile run with a time of 4:00.64, a facility record. Marcelo Rocha ’21 also set a facility record, in the 5,000-meter contest. Rocha won the race and finished with a time of 13:55.98. For the women, Abbey Wheeler ’21GS and Lilly Tuck ’23 won their respective races. Wheeler set a personal best and won the mile with a 4:41.93. Tuck set a personal best in the 3,000-meter with a time of 9:24.11.

Swimming and Diving:

The PC Swimming and Diving Teams competed in the Big East Championships in Geneva, Ohio. On the men’s side, Justin Viotto ’22 won the 200-yard butterfly event to secure the conference title. After being in third for the first 150 yards of the event, Viotto used the last 50 yards to claim a victory by one one-hundredth of a second with a time of 1:48.23. Kevin Hood ’23 also won a title, winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.52. On the women’s side, Sally Alrutz ’23 recorded a personal record in the 100-yard backstroke at 55.91, finishing fifth. Overall, the women’s team came in fifth while the men secured fourth to wrap up the season.

Women’s Soccer:

To finish out the regular season of Big East play, the PC Women’s Soccer Team traveled to Queens, New York to face St. John’s University. After being down 1-0 going into halftime, the Friars were awarded a penalty shot with just 10 minutes left to play. Christina Rodgers ’21 stepped up to the spot and recorded her first goal of the season to level the Friars at one. The game went into overtime, during which neither team would score, and the game concluded in a 1-1 draw. The Friars finish the regular season 7-2-3 overall and 5-2-3 in Big East play.

Friars Compete at the John Thomas Terrier Invitational Meet

by The Cowl Editor on February 7, 2019

Friar Sports

by Jack Belanger ’21

The cross country season is long over, but as the Providence College Track and Field Team heads into the midst of the winter track season, records are still being broken, and one runner has been making headlines. While it was Abbey Wheeler ’20 who dominated in the fall, placing first in multiple races and being named both NCAA XC Division I National Athlete of the Week twice, Millie Paladino ’18RS has led the team this winter.

During the John Thomas Terrier Invitational on Jan. 25, running on the indoor track at Boston University, Paladino broke the school record for the 1,000-meter run where she finished with a time of 2:42:13. Not only did her time break the 29-year-old school record, she also broke the New England Collegiate Record and her time is good for 10th best all-time in the NCAA.

Her time is also a huge improvement from last season. At the University of Rhode Island Sorlien Memorial Invitational on January 20, 2018, Paladino finished the 1,000-meter at 2:51:01. Earlier in the winter season she also set a personal best in the 800-meter run during the Penn Challenge, finishing at 2:08:94.

Two other Friars also came in first for their individual events. Brianna Ilarda ’18RS won the 3,000-meter race with a time of 9:12:58. Regan Rome ’18GS and Maria Coffin ’21 were among the leaders for the entire 5,000-meter race. Rome managed to separate herself from the rest of the pack and win with a time of 16:27:34. Coffin finished strong, placing sixth with a time of 16:46:94.

This meet was the second time this winter that Ilarda and Rome have come first for a respective events. At the Penn Challenge, Illarda won the mile while Rome won the 3,000-meter race.

On the men’s side, the Friars found their most success in the 1,000-meter run. Two Friars, Ryan Jendzejec ’21 and Nick Carleo ’19, finished in the top-20 as Jendzejec finished 0.02 seconds before Carleo. With times of 2:28:39 and 2:28:41, respectively, both runner qualified for the IC4A Championships.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will return to Boston University this weekend to take part in the Valentine Invitational. The team will have two more meets after the invitational to prepare for the Big East Championship at the end of the month.