Article and photo by Ethan Lyne, Staff Editor
Despite the dismal wet weather outside, athletes from Haverford and Bryn Mawr raced to many event victories and school records at Ursinus College on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 24-25, at the Centennial Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship.
The Haverford men’s indoor track and field team finished the two-day meet in second place with 149 points, unable to dethrone Johns Hopkins from their six-year streak of winning the Centennial Conference.
On Saturday, Dylan Gearinger HC ’19 won the 5000-meter event, continuing an impressive season of strong performances in a variety of distances. The team of juniors Liam Lynch, Greg Morgan, Chris Goings, and senior Henry Woods also won the distance medley relay with the eighth fastest time in program history. Several other Fords also performed well enough to earn the team enough points that put them within striking distance of Johns Hopkins, the reigning conference champion.
Several Fords continued their winning streak on Sunday, with Morgan winning the mile, Goings taking first in the 800-meter run, Lynch winning the 400-meter dash, and Gearinger winning the 3000-meter event with Graham Peet HC ’19 finishing close behind in second. The 4×400 meter relay team, consisting of Lynch, Goings, Scott Pollara HC ‘19, and Gene Perry HC ‘21, were also victorious in one of the last events of the day.
The Haverford women’s indoor track and field team finished the meet in 2nd place, narrowly beating out Dickinson and Swarthmore, and improving upon their 3rd place finish last year.
On Saturday, Amelia Keyser-Gibson HC ‘18 excelled in the 5000-meter event, finishing in second place at just two seconds behind the winner. There were numerous other outstanding performances in relay and field events, giving the Fords lots of momentum into Sunday.
Keyser-Gibson continued her dominance in distance events on Sunday, with a victory in the mile event. Claire Sargent HC ‘18 both broke her own school record and won the shot-put event with a throw of 12.91 meters. In addition, the team of Molly Hawkins HC ‘21, Hannah Yeakey HC ‘21, Hannah Doll HC ‘21, and Sophie Drew HC ‘19 finished in second in the 4×800 meter relay. In total, the entire squad earned 77 points over the weekend.
The Bryn Mawr indoor track and field received 37 points, enough for an 8th place finish at the championships, their best finish since 2012.
The Owls began their success on Saturday, with scoring performances from Julie Gonzales BMC ’20 in pole vault and Tara Holman BMC ‘19, Georgia Nelson BMC ‘21, first-year Olivia Brintlinger-Conn BMC ‘21, and Cailey Klink BMC ’20 in the 4×200 meter relay.
However, Sunday was by far the most impressive day for Bryn Mawr, led by Jennica Terry, BMC ‘21. Terry finished first in both the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash, along with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash. This individual performance by Terry generated 26 total points for the team, higher than the team total at the last nine conference championships. Natalia Phillip BMC ‘20 was another top finisher for the Owls, finishing in fourth place in the shot put.
All in all, each squad improved from their performance last season at the Conference Championships and will hope to build upon this success in the upcoming outdoor season. Many of the top athletes will continue their indoor season for two more weeks they prepare for the NCAA Division III Championships on March 9-10 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Thanks to the Bryn Mawr Athletics, Haverford Athletics, and the Centennial Conference for much of the statistics in this article!
