The Oswego State Lakers men’s and women’s track and field team headed to the Red Dragon Open on April 4 for their second outdoor meet of the season. Starting with the women’s track and field, Elena Gaffney, finishing first in their last meet, fifth fastest women’s 1500 in Oswego program history, but she is not the only team member as Tanasha Brown, Riley Flynn, Sabrina Schmitt and Rhiannon Butchko placed fifth with a time of 54.59 in the 4 x 100. These Lakers worked hard for their positions and you can see their own drive as Jessica Torrey came in third place in the women’s 5000m with a time of 20:06:69. She was close to getting that second place position but the athlete from SUNY ESF had a slight advantage over her making it a bit more challenging to surpass her.  There is also Butchko who put  a lot of work and energy in her performance as she made it to the fourth place in the high jump, tying with the Red Dragons, with a score of 1.53.

In the other areas, the women’s track and field were either in the top ten people or the top twenty positions. Some honorable mentions were Kaleigh Durso and Teagan Roy coming in 15th and 16th place respectively in the long jump,  Durso coming in 16th place from shot put,  Shea Masse landing in 18th place for her discus throw and 17th place for her hammer throwing, Brenna O’Brien coming in 13th place for the 100m hurdles and Schmitt coming in 12th place for the women’s 100m run. Schmitt also comes in tenth place with a score of 27.37 for the women’s 200m run. Rebecca Steiner and Veronica Meji sourced who landed in 8th and 9th place with scores of 18.33 and 18.02, respectively, in the javelin throw. The women did not do bad at all as they were able to place them somewhere.

Men’s track and field experience was much different from the women’s as Daniel Mars, Malik Davis, Jack Hickey and Madiagne Niang were able to get into second place with a time of 41.94 in the 4 X100. Not only were they able to set a new Oswego record, they have qualified to run at regionals. Niang was kicking butts and taking names as he placed first for the men’s 100m with a time of 10.97. Not too far from, Dan Mars came in third place with a time of 11.03 in the men’s 100m. Switching gears a bit, in doing the men’s 400 m, where Jack Hickey placed in second with a time of 49.94. Tony Mozelle is another athlete that made it to second place with a few points (0.03)  behind Hartwick, when it came to men’s high jump. 

There are some more students athletes that did a great job such as Cory Morton who finished in fourth in the men’s triple jump and sixth place for the 400 hurdles, Jefferey Simmons for setting a new personal best for himself while finishing in fourth place in the men’s 800m and followed by Hickey who came in fifth place in the men’s 200m. 

Men and Women’s track and field will compete again on April 12 at Bucknell Invitational, starting at 9:00 AM.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics