MAAC stories: Proving a point

The news earlier this spring about the elimination of our indoor track facility in the McCann Center hit our sprinting crew the hardest. These athletes practice(d) every day in the fieldhouse for the better part of four months each and every winter. Moving forward will provide us with challenges, to be sure.

For now, though, our men’s sprint crew – and coach Terry Horton -- can bask in the satisfaction of a job well-done at MAACs.

--Freshman Jesse Aprile set the school record in the 200-meter dash (22.78). While this is an amazing performance on its own, consider that this was Jesse’s fourth event – having competed in the long jump, the 4x100 relay and the triple jump prior to the 200.
--The 4x100 relay medaled for the second consecutive MAAC meet, nearing a school record (43.40; the record is 43.33). More impressively, that 4x100 improved its time each and every time it stepped on the track during the 2011 outdoor season. Not too shabby!
--Mike Clifford had another near-miss in the 400 hurdles, running 56.36 (school record is 56.33), one week after running 56.39 at Yale. Cliff should be very proud of his clean and fast races.
--The 4x400 relay blitzed to its best time (3:24.28) of the entire year, by a wide margin. Consider that a week and a half prior, at Penn Relays, this relay was six (6!) seconds slower.
--Chris Vanzetta ran two phenomenal relay legs – in the 4x800 (1:56.1, neg split!) and again in the 4x400 (50.5).

Again, the future for this crew will be challenging. Very challenging. But we will find a way. We always have and we always will.

Thanks to Erin O’Reilly for providing the photo of hurdler Mike Clifford that accompanies this post.