By Gerard Turner
The Oswego State men’s and women’s track and field team was in SUNY Brockport last week for one of their last meets of the season. Unfortunately, due to the weather, many of the events were canceled.
Before the meet in SUNY Brockport, the Lakers were in SUNY Cortland on April 9 where they had a very impressive day, earning 14 top-five finishes and having many athletes break personal records.
In SUNY Brockport, the only competitions that were held were a handful of field events. Senior Lindsay Fluman was able to capture sixth place in the women’s discus throw with a throw of 31.64 meters. Junior Abigail Conpropst competed in the same event and had a throw of 22.23 meters. Nathan Jennings finished seventh in the men’s pole vault, with a jump of 3.80 meters.
One of the Laker’s standout athletes this season has been junior Ashleigh Lacy who has racked up three Oswego State athletes of the week this season, the most previous one coming last week after her performance in SUNY Cortland. Lacy is a sprinter for the women’s team and competed in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash and 4×400 meter relay in SUNY Cortland. She finished second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.89, losing by .12 seconds. A time of 12.89 has tied her personal best for this event. She came in third for the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.04, losing by .50 seconds. Lacy and her relay teammates Emily Gustafson, Gretchen Dowd and Faith Coyle were able to capture third place with a 4:40.19 time.
Even after a successful weekend and season, Lacy is still striving to improve every time she hits the track.
“I am looking forward to hitting the regional times in the 100 meters and 200 meters,” Lacy said. “I am also looking to break the outdoor 100 meter school record, I am only .5 seconds off of that.”
Lacy has already broken one school record as she now holds the indoor record for the 60 meter run with a time of 8.08 seconds.
Lacy was not the only Laker who had a big day in SUNY Cortland. Kayla Guerre was able to give the Lakers a top ten finish as she came in ninth for the 100 meter dash. Guerre also tied her personal best in the long jump event with a length of 4.96 meters. She was able to come in second place for this event.
For the men, sophomore Aidan Harrington had three top-three finishes coming in the 200 meter dash as he finished in 23.10 seconds which tied his personal best for this event. He also had a second-place finish in the 400 hurdles (57.44 seconds) and a third-place finish in the 4×400 meter team relay (3:38:68 minutes). He ran the relay with teammates Jack Hickey, Christopher Dorney and Nathan Couse.
Michael Saavedra also had a big day at SUNY Cortland as he captured a second-place finish in the men’s shot put and grabbed a seventh-place finish in men’s discus throws. Saavedra was able to reflect as his senior year begins to conclude.
“On the field, I have learned what it’s truly like to compete at a high level,” Saavedra said. “Off the field, this program has given me lifelong friends, and memories, that I wouldn’t change for the world.”
Head coach Juan Martinez and assistant coach Emily Casazza have had their team improving every meet as more and more athletes continue to break their personal best records every week. Martinez is in his first year as the Oswego State track and field coach and has already proved to be the coach for the future. With the season coming to an end, Martinez was able to reflect on his first year.
“As the season is winding down to an end I believe I did good,” Martinez said. “I want to improve my recruiting skills. The more athletes in track and field programs the better. I believe that Oswego State can be a top three [team] in the conference in track and field.”
Oswego State has three meets left before the SUNYAC Championships which will be held in Geneseo. Their next meet will be in Rochester for the St. John Fisher College Invitational which will be held on April 22 and April 23.
*Abigail Conpropst is a member of The Oswegonian staff
Image via Oswego State Athletics
