RICHMOND, Va. – Massachusetts women's team and Rhode Island's men's team lead the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track Championships after Saturday's opening day at Sports Backer Stadium.
The Minutewomen won one event and collected seven medals to score 56.5 points on the women's side, ahead of second-place Rhode Island (38.5 points), third-place George Mason (38 points) and VCU in fourth at 28 points. Fordham (21 points) was fifth, George Washington (18) sixth and Dayton (17.5) seventh. La Salle (eighth place), Duquesne (ninth) and Davidson (10) preceded Richmond, Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis, which rounded out the field.
On the men's side, Rhode Island had five medal performances and won two events to score 59.5 points, 11.5 points ahead of second-place George Mason's 48 points. UMass is in third after the first day with 29 points, and VCU is fourth with 25. George Washington (20 points), La Salle (16) and Saint Joseph’s (11.5) occupy fifth through seventh. Saint Louis, Davidson and Fordham completed the team scoring.
There was one Atlantic 10 meet record broken Saturday, in the women's championship. La Salle’s Elenaor Mancini recorded a 33:54.62 winning time in the 10,000 meter event, beating Megan McGlinchey’s seven-year old record of 34:22.38.
In addition to Mancini, George Washington’s Kathryn Nohilly won the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:33.01. Hannah Robertson of Mason had a pole vault of 3.72 meters. Kathryn Kelly won the long jump for Fordham with a 6.09 meter leap, and VCU’s Gudrun Hallgrimsdottir took gold in the hammer throw with a 59.55 meter toss. Rhode Island’s Julia Campezato collected a 44.89 meter throw in the Javelin for the gold. Nayome Shipp of VCU finished off the field events with a first place finish in the high jump with a leap of 1.86 meters.
UMass' Kira Kopec took gold in the Women's Heptathalon with 2,273 points. Elizabeth Lodge also medaled for the minutewomen in the heptathalon with 2,267 to claim silver and in the high jump with a bronze-earning 1.63 meter leap. Anna Cozzolino earned a bronze in the javelin for UM with a 44.07 meter throw, and Voski Armenakyan was third in the hammer with a 52.50 meter throw. Lillian Kirry's 1:00.25 took second in the 40 meter hurdles and Lily Robinson grabbed silver in the 10,000 meters with a 33:58.95 for UMass.
Event winners on the men's side included Toby Gillen of Saint Louis in the 10,000 meters with a time of 30:55.01. George Washington’s Logan Broedner ran 9:08.53 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase to win gold, while George Mason's Forest Flynn posted a 4.52 meter performance in the pole vault to win first. George Mason Xavier Shirley had a long jump of 7.59 metesr that was good for gold and Sam Bond of Rhode Island threw the hammer 58.57 meters for first. Jack Reichenbach of Rhode Island stamped a 2.08 meter leap in the high jump for a first place finish.
In addition to Reichenbach and Bond, Rhody got medal performances from Isaiah Powers in the pole vault with a 4.52 meter vault, good for third. Reichenbach also won silver in the long jump with a 7.17 meter leap. Johnathan Buchanan recorded a hammer throw of 56.24 meters to win bronze.
Sunday's final day of competition begins with the conclusion of the men's decathlon at 9:00 am.