Men’s and Women’s Track Prepare for Big East Championship

by npatano on May 5, 2022

Friar Sports

Both Teams Look to Finish the Year on a High Note

Joseph Quirk ’23

Sports Staff

The 2022 Providence College spring track and field season is off to a fast start. Both the men’s and women’s squads have hit the ground running since they opened their season on March 27 at the Raleigh Relays.

The Raleigh Relays are a collegiate track and field event hosted by North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. For the men, the event represented an opportunity for many athletes to achieve new personal bests. Liam Back ’24 and Angus White ’22 both ran personal best times in the 1,500-meter, running 3:43.78 and 3:45.15 respectively. Matt Lepine ’22 ran a PR of 14:27.73 in the 5,000-meters event. But perhaps the greatest bunch of accomplishments from the men’s team at this event came in the 10,000-meters race. Shane Coffey ’24 ran the race for the first time in his collegiate career, finishing with a solid time of 30:11. David McGlynn ’22 ran a time of 29:04.9, which not only was a personal best for himself but also placed him at No. 6 in the College’s history. Abdel Laddjel ’25, from Lucan, Ireland, ran a time of 29:23, breaking the 50-year-old Irish Junior records.

Laura Mooney — Photo Courtesy of PC Athletics

Things were just as historic on the women’s side. Lily Tuck ’23 ran a personal best time in the 5,000-meters with a time of 16:02. With a time of 14.98, Nicole Borowiec ’23 broke the PC program record for 100-meter hurdles. Niamh Gowing ’22 also entered the record books, running a 56.87 second time in the 400-meter which was not only a personal best but good enough to put her at No. 3 all-time in Providence College program history. Hawa Grear ’24 also entered the record books, running a 12.61 second time in the 100-meters, food for No. 2 all-time in PC program history. Taylor Newman ’23 also became No. 2 all-time in program history for her 25.19 second finishing time for the 200-meters. Meg Hughes ’24 set a school record early in her career as well with a 400-meter hurdle time of 63:64 seconds. Along with previous years performances, McGlynn, Back, AJ Ernst ’22, Tuck and Shannon Flockhart ’24 all earned a qualification for the NCAA First Round, which will be hosted in Bloomington, IN from May 25-28.

Alex O'Neil — Photo Courtesy of PC Athletics

The Friars continued their hot start when they went to the Black and Gold Invitational, which was hosted across town by Bryant University on April 2. Nicola Calabrese ’22 and Grear both recorded personal bests in the 200-meters. Gowing had a personal best performance in the 400-meters, landing her in second place. In the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Meg Hughes not only had a first-place finish and a new personal best time, but also broke her own school record with a time of 61.34. Borowiec also broke her own school record in the 100-meter hurdles, giving her a third-place finish. The Friars men’s team claimed the first four finishes of the 1,500-meter race with Michael Morgan ’25, Patrick Thygesen ’24, Ryan Gallagher ’22, and Josh Lewin ’24 finishing in that respective order. Back and White also claimed the first two finishes of the 800-meters (respectively) with Back setting a meet record with a time of 1:52.21.

Following their strong return to Rhode Island, the track and field team decided to take the heat to their own turf, right at Ray Treacy Track. On April 8, Back ran the first sub-4-minute mile of his career, with a first-place finish and a personal record time of 3:59.06. The time was also the first sub-4-minute mile at Ray Treacy Track and beat the previous record by over 4 seconds. Ernst and White were not far behind him with 4-minute flat miles and third and fourth place finishes. Gallagher took first place in the 5,000-meters, an event which also saw McGlynn and Lepine hit new personal bests. Lewin had a nice first place finish in his heat of the 800-meters. In impressive fashion, Thygesen had a second-place finish, with a time of 8:54.07, in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Brett Lehman ’25 had a second-place finish for himself in the 400-meters. And Chris Johns ’25 had himself a first-place finish in the high jump. As for the women, sophomore Laura Mooney ’24 dominated 5,000-meters, with a personal best time of 16:09.43, which was over 17 seconds faster than the runner up. Flockhart came in second in the mile, Gowing came in third in the 400-meters, and Alex O’Neill ’23 came in first while setting a facility record in the 800-meters. Following the Friar invitational, Back earned a Big East men’s track athlete of the week honor.

The Friars continued to rack up records in subsequent meets. At the Penn Relays, Mooney broke the Irish U23 National record and placed sixth all-time in Providence College history for the 10,000-meter. A team of Kimberly May ’25, Halle Atkinson ’24, Flockhart, and O’Neill also set a Providence College record for the 4×800 meter relay. In their most recent event, the Brown Springtime Invitational, O’Neill broke a 32-year-old Providence College record in the 800-meters. O’Neill, along with Lewin, made a good case to qualify for the NCAA first round.

The Friars will look to continue their historic record breaking season May 13-14 when they head to Storrs, CT for the Big East championships.

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.