Nine First-Place Finishes Highlight Track & Field's Strong Outing at the Sean Collier Invitational

4/23/2016 12:00:00 AM

Links: Results

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's and women's track & field teams combined to post nine first-place finishes, including six individual wins, during an impressive performance at the Sean Collier Invitational at MIT on Saturday.

The Basics
Event: Sean Collier Invitational
Top Finishers: Women: Muscaro (1^st – 200m), Pernell (1^st – 100m), Schmidt (1^st – 5000m), Gorton (1^st – 3000 Steeple), 4x100m (1^st), 4x400m (1^st) | Men:  Braga (1^st – HJ), Spencer (1^st – 110m hurdles), 4x400m (1^st)
Location: MIT | Cambridge, Massachusetts

What They Said
Head coach Jacky Mendes, "Caisie Wynot started us off with a huge PR in the 10,000m and the Warriors kept up that momentum for the rest of the meet. There were so many personal-bests today, accompanied by postseason qualifiers, Muscaro's 200m performance that ranks her third in Division II, and a new school record in the men's 4 X 400m. This is a great way to go into Penn Relays and the last regular season meet at Stonehill.

How It Happened
In one of the first events of the meet at the Sean Collier Invitational on Saturday morning, senior Caisie Wynot (Braintree, Mass.) would run in the 10,000m to get the Warriors started. Needing a sub-44 minute time to qualify for the Northeast-10 Championships, the senior would beat that by nearly 30 second with a personal-best time of 43:32.65 and spark the Warriors for the rest of the meet.

Freshman and NE-10 Indoor Track Rookie of the Year Michaela Pernell (Naugatuck, Conn.) was one of four women to post an individual first-place finish at MIT, doing so in the 100m dash with a New England (NEICAA) Championships qualifying time of 12.28, the third best in school history. Junior captain Carly Muscaro (Ashland, Mass.) would post her win in the 200m dash with a school-record time of 23.69, the third-best in Division II this season and a NCAA provisional qualifier.

The Warriors found success in the long distance events as well as senior Kristin Schmidt (Athens, N.Y.) would run to a first-place finish in the 5000m with a time of 19:06.80, while freshman Sophie Gorton (Plymouth, Mass.) would win the 3000m steeplechase with a personal-best time of 12:08.64, the fourth-best in school history. Both of the women's relay teams in the 4x100m and 4x400m would win their events, both posting ECAC-qualifying times while the 4x100m team set a new school record.

The men saw one of their three first-place finishes come from junior standout John Braga (North Reading, Mass.), winning his signature high jump event in with a 1.93m jump. He would also post a second-place finish in the 400 hurdles.

Fellow junior John Spencer (North Haven, Conn.) also nabbed a first-place finish for the men, winning the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.68. The men's 4x400m relay team posted an impressive first-place finish as well, as the team of freshman Jacob Robinson (Riverhead, N.Y.), sophomore Connor Murphy (Paxton, Mass.) and juniors Christian Gentile (Melrose, Mass.) and Cameron Ricci (Warwick, R.I.) would set a new school record in the event with a time of 3:23.42.

Robinson also posted an individual third-place finish in the 200m dash with a time of 22.18, while Gentile placed sixth in the 800m with the third best time in school history at 1:58.01.

Up Next
The Warriors will participate in the world-renowned Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from Thursday to Saturday, while some athletes will also compete at the Skyhawk Invitational at Stonehill on Saturday.

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