By: Isabel Smith ~Staff Writer~
The Xavier track and field team is off to a good start in April.
The Musketeers headed to Oxford, Ohio, to compete in the All-Ohio Championship after the men’s 4×800-meter team shattered a school record in the final day of competition at the Florida Relays the previous weekend.
The All-Ohio Championship featured several of Ohio’s top teams, from the Ohio State Buckeyes to the Miami Redhawks.
Competition began on April 10 at the George Rider Track.
Xavier’s top performance of opening day came from sophomore Delainey Burnett. She took third place in the 10,000-meter run with 38:52:42, trailing behind Krista Roehlig of Ohio University and Anna Lamb of Miami University.
Two other Musketeers on the women’s team had top-10 finishes.
Team captain junior Onya Edwards placed ninth in the long jump with 5.14 meters and freshman Elizabeth Acker took ninth place as well in the javelin with 25.86 meters.
Both Xavier teams concluded day two of the All-Ohio with an additional 16 top-10 finishes.
Sophomore Russell Platt performed remarkably in both jumping and sprinting events. He placed fourth in the high jump (1.95 meters) and took fifth in the 100-meter dash with 10.98 seconds, a personal record for Platt.
Three members of the record-setting 4×800 team placed consecutively in the 800-meter run, separated by less than a second.
Freshman Nolan Daniels led the group by placing sixth with a time of 1:54.24, senior Matt Orlando followed in seventh with 1:54.77 and sophomore Grant Parelli rounded out the cluster in eighth place with 1:55:15. The times set personal records for both Orlando and Daniels.
Two other members of the men’s team contributed to the top-10 finishes.
Junior Connor Buchholz took ninth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:56.66 and senior Ryan Konstanzer also placed ninth in his event, the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.41 secondss.
Freshman Karmen Auble put forth an impressive performance, setting a school record in the pole vault with 3.55 meters and taking third, the team’s highest placement in field.
Other notable finishes in field events came from Mercedes Oliver, who placed ninth in the discus with 40.96 meters, and Kaitlyn Crean, who placed 10th in the high jump with a jump of 1.48 meters.
Similar to the men’s squad, two members of the women’s team finished consecutively in an event.
Redshirt freshman Meghan Vogel placed third in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:37.84. Following just behind, junior Caterina Karas placed fourth with a time of 4:38.29. Both Musketeers recorded personal bests.
Xavier returns to the track April 16 to 17 for the Cardinal Invitational in Muncie, Ind., and the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.