The second semester is up and underway and so is the winter track and field teams’ seasons. Both the men and women have had multiple meets and have a full schedule in front of them.
The first meet of 2018 for the Eastern Track and Field was at the Coach I Invitational hosted by Franklin and Marshal College in Lancaster, PA. In this first meet the Eagles had a variation of both strong and not so strong performances. There were defiantly some positives to take out the meet, but defiantly room for some improvement.
One of the highlights in the Franklin and Marshal meet was sophomore Frantzy Sainvil coming away victorious in the triple jump and then had a third place finish in the long jump. Several other Eagles had strong performances but there was also a fair share of room for improvement for the team. Coach Wilson stated that, “We had some great moments of individual brilliance, but we have a lot to put together before we look our best.”
The next meet that the Eagles had was the Gotham Cup in Ocean Breeze, Staten Island, New York. Once again the Eagles had an average performance where they had a mixed box of results. The highlights of the day belonged to sophomore Greg Thomas who finished 5th in the 5,000 meters and sophomore Frantzy Sainvil who was fourth in the triple jump.
On Saturday, January 27th the men had a meets at the Covert Invitational. It was freshman Doug Kramer who steeled the show finishing in second place for the 5,000-meter run. With that run Kramer was able to qualify for the MAC Championship. There were also other Eagles that were able to qualify for the MAC Championship including, sophomore Greg Thomas and sophomore Rusty Batykefer who both qualified for the one mile run. Junior Aaron Szenczy also had a strong performance as he had a 1.95M jump in the high jump, which placed fourth for the day and second all year by a MAC athlete.
The women’s team also competed in both the Franklin and Marshal and Gotham Cup meets. In the Franklin and Marshal the women were able to put up some solid results. Junior Kierra Zack finished second in the 3,000-meter race. Zack ever since she came to Eastern her freshmen year has a great impact on the team. Sophomore Megan Bernotas also finished second in her race which was the 800-meter.
In the Gotham Cup the Eagles put in a strong performance where coach Wilson stated, “Overall I’m happy with how we approached today mentally and how we went out and competed.”
At the Gotham Cup sophomore Bernotas ran her first competitive mile of the season and clocked in a 5:18. With this being the first competitive mile for Bernotas, coach Wilson believes that Bernotas has the potential to do even better.
The women also competed at the Covert Invitational and had both some strong finishes and some qualifying for the MAC Championship. Sophomore Megan Bernotas finished third in the one mile and junior Kierra Zack finished not too far behind her in sixth. Both sophomore Elaniah Boyles and sophomore Pamela Myers qualified for their respectful events which was the 3,000-meter for Boyles and 5,000-meter for Myers.
Both teams are putting in the work and have the potential to improve and put forth solid seasons this upcoming semester.
Upcoming Schedule:
February 3rd: Ursinus College (M&W)
February 9th: New York University (W)
February 10th: Boston University
February 17th: Haverford College
Source: Goeasterneagles.com