KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College indoor track teams will look to make noise as their full attention turns to the Little East Conference championship meets on Saturday, hosted by Plymouth State University at the Bank of New Hampshire Field House at ALLWell North.
Keene State Meet Sheet
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Entering with five top 50 national marks in Division III from five different athletes on both sides, KSC will look to build on a second-place finish last year on the women's side (105 points) and a third-place mark on the men's side (99 points). KSC took home three gold medals a season ago, with
Maggie St. John defending her crown in the 5,000 meters with a time of 18:42.13 (
Kallie Warner picked up a silver in 18:46.20).
Jake Velazquez won the same event on the men's side with an LEC record time of 15:06.46, and the men's 4x200 meter relay team of
Jonathan DeAguiar,
Kyle Thomas,
Aidan Law, and Sean von Ranson won in 1:32.00, edging Plymouth's entrant by .58 seconds. The Owls also got four other silver medals on the women's side to lock up their runner-up team finish (
Molly Lu McKellar in the 60 hurdles,
Keely Giordano in the 60 meters, and
Sarah Ames in the mile). The men had bronze finishes from
Kyle Thomas in the 60 meter dash (6.99),
Griffin Urnezis in the mile (4:22.46), and
Keith O'Donnell in the 600 meters (1:25.84). Law (22.33) and Thomas (22.68) were second and third, respectively, in the 200 meter dash, while
Caden Latulippe was tied for second in the pole vault, matching his school record with a mark of 4.30 meters. Law also found his way onto the podium in the long jump, finishing second with a mark of 7.14 meters, and freshman
Jayden Baker was third in the shot put (14.41 meters). Nicholas Terranova placed fourth in a very close 800-meter race, finishing in 2:00.75 – just over two seconds from the winner, with two Eastern Connecticut State University runners in between. The University of Southern Maine won both titles. Keene State's men have won conference crowns in 1998 and 2008.
The Owls currently have 10 LEC-leading marks (including in events that will not be contested at the championships), including Law in the 200 meters (22.57) and the long jump (7.19 meters). Thomas has had the only sub-seven second time (6.94) in the 60 meters in the league entering the meet, while Bolaske leads the seeding in both the mile (4:15.99), 3000 (8:24.18), and 5000 (15:06.49).
Eden Damis has a 14.12 meter triple jump on his ledger this year, best in the league. KSC's men have three of the best five seed times in the 5000 including Urnezis (third) and freshman
Andrew Klinedinst (fifth). On the women's side, the Owls have the best 4x400 relay time (4:03.22) while freshman
Ballay Conteh enters the long jump as the top seed with her 5.66 mark set on January 31. Cooper has the second-best triple jump mark in the LEC and Conteh the fourth. McKellar leads in the pentathlon, though that will not be contested at the league meet – she is currently the No. 2 seed in the 60 meter hurdles and third in the high jump.
Based on the meet projections at 802timing, the KSC women will aim to track down Southern Maine and the men figure to be part of a top four teams that could be exceptionally close – but head coach
Dan Roark knows it will take the best from everyone.
"The biggest keys are everyone needs to step up if we want to go in the right direction," he said, currently in his fifth season with the team. "People who are not expected to score scoring points can lead to good things happening."
Five of KSC's current marks are within the top 45 nationally, including Law in the long jump (16th) and Conteh in the same event (17th) – both of whom currently would have NCAA-qualifying marks. McKellar is 28th in Division III in the pentathlon, Bolaske 41st in the 3000, and Damis 44th in the triple jump.
Saturday's meet will begin at 10:00 a.m. with four field events including the men's long jump – a key event for KSC – while the running events begin at 10:30 a.m.
