BOSTON, Mass. –
Caroline Cooper broke a school record in the 200-meter dash to lead six first-place events as the Keene State College track and field teams opened their indoor season at the Suffolk Relays and Early Bird Invitational in the Boston area on Saturday.
Cooper ran the 200 meters in 26.36 at the Suffolk Relays at the Reggie Lewis Center, beating Aliyah Wilson of Johnson and Wales University (R.I.) by over half a second to break
Keely Giordano's previous school-best mark set last season on January 25 (26.43). Cooper, a sophomore from Concord, N.H., also added a second-place mark of 10.55 meters in the triple jump.
Other first-place efforts, four of which were New England Division III championship qualifying marks (automatic and provisional), included
Ballay Conteh in the long jump in her first-ever collegiate meet, leading off her six attempts with the winning mark of 5.39 meters, an NE D-III qualifying mark.
KSC had four first-place finishes on the men's side at Suffolk, which was a non-team scoring meet, including
Griffin Urnezis in the 5,000 meters (15:04.90),
Aidan Law in the long jump (7.19 meters), and
Eden Damis (13.49 meters) in the triple jump – all New England Division III qualifying marks. The Owls' sprint medley relay team of
Sean Von Ranson, Law,
Keith O'Donnell, and Nicholas Terranova also posted a meet-best time of 3:37.57 to beat Rhode Island College's foursome by a little over a second. KSC's "B" relay was also fourth in 3:44.51 among the 14 groups.
The Owls were also high up in other events where they did not finish first, as
Kyle Thomas ran the 60 meters in 6.95 – edged by Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Sam Manteria by one hundredth of a second after winning by two hundredths of a second in the preliminary race with a New England Division III time of 6.94. KSC had two of the top 14 in a 66-runner field in the 200 meters, as
Jonathan DeAguiar was 11th (23.79) and
Alex Nimiroski 14th (24.06). O'Donnell was fifth in the 400 meters (52.52) and Terranova second in the mile in 4:35.43, three seconds behind Bentley University sophomore Michael Eddy.
Logan Conboy was fourth of eight (1.80 meters) in the high jump in his first-ever collegiate meet.
On the women's side,
Mia Cruz was third in the 60 meters, posting an New England Division III qualifying mark of 8.03, while also tying for third in the high jump (1.50 meters). Conteh also finished seventh in the 400 meters (1:04.49).
Keene State also sent
Tyler Bolaske and
Maggie St. John to the TRACK at new balance Early Bird Invitational, with both posting New England Division III qualifying times in the 5,000 meters as Bolaske – coming off an individual qualification to the NCAA championships in cross country – finishing ninth of 40 runners with a time in 14:56.89, and St. John 17th of 41 in 18:17.40.
"It was a solid opener. Happy to start off the track season and we had a competitive showing," said KSC head coach
Dan Roark. "A school record in the women's 200 by Carolina Cooper and
Aidan Law had a mark in the long jump that would have gotten him to NCAAs last year. We were competitive in almost every event, got a few wins, and Keene State was up front in many events. It is a good start and I look forward to the next one in the spring semester."
After the holiday break, the Owls will travel to Middlebury College for the Snowflake Invitational on January 10 at 11:00 a.m.
