Having split the team between the Penn State Invitational in State College, Pa., and the Carolina Fast Times Meet in Chapel Hill, the men's and women's track teams saw impressive performances at both meets this past weekend.
Relay squads and long- and middle-distance runners made the biggest impression in the Keystone State, as two men's relay teams qualified for the IC4A Championships in March and one women's relay group earned themselves a spot at the ECAC Championships.
The men's 4x800 squad registered a season-best time of 7:39.74, coming in third, and a blistering 9:58.31 netted the distance medley relay team eighth place and a place at the table in March's IC4As.
"We've had a lot of people get sick, and we were happy to get the results that we got," said senior Donny Fowler, a member of both relay units. "We're trying to qualify for IC4As, lower our times and we were able to do that, so we were happy."
Individual distance events went smoothly for both teams, with Michael Hatch notching an eighth-place finish in the 3,000 meter run. Nick Schneider, who had run anchor in Friday's distance medley relay, finished 12th in the 1,000-meter run. Both men's times qualified them for IC4As.
The women's distance medley relay squad logged a win Friday night with a speedy 11:27.29, once again qualifying for the ECAC Championships and also provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
"This [was] our first attempt at the DMR," senior relay team member Kristen Doody said. "We were hoping to make the NCAA provisional qualifying time, so naturally we were really, really excited when we did."
The portion of the team that remained in North Carolina performed competently in the field events.
Tirana McDermott logged a strong 10th-place finish in the women's 60-meter hurdles with a scanty 9.66 seconds. Pole vaulters Laura Chen and Brent Warner registered impressive finishes: 11th and second, respectively.
"The last two weeks I hadn't jumped as well, and I was hoping to clear 16'1" this weekend," said Warner. "I'd had a good week of classes, and I think that made the difference."
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