| Men’s track team runs well at Penn Relays BY MIKE UNGER The four men who comprise the AU track team’s mile relay squad clearly relish running at the Penn Relays. For the second year in a row, the team broke the school record in the event at the prestigious competition in Philadelphia. With a time of 16:27.14, the team of Awit Yohannes, Brendan Fennell, Conor Lanz, and Steve Hallinan finished in fifth place, just over five seconds behind the University of Texas, which won Saturday’s race. AU’s time was almost seven seconds faster than the previous school record, set last year. The fifth-place finish ties the 2003 Eagles team as the school’s best finish in the event at the Penn Relays. On Friday, AU’s distance medley relay team finished ninth in the college section, its time of 10:04.40 the fifth-fastest in school history. The foursome of Brian McCabe, Alex Caudana, Dustin Emrani, and Carlos Jamieson finished in the top half of the 20 teams that competed. The track team now is preparing for the Patriot League Championships, which begin Friday at Lehigh University. Lacrosse team comes up just short An exciting and successful AU women’s lacrosse season came to a disappointing conclusion Sunday when the Eagles fell to Holy Cross 12-8 in the Patriot League Tournament title game. AU jumped out to the early lead before Holy Cross came back to take a 5-3 advantage into halftime. But the Crusaders controlled the second half on their way to winning their second straight league crown. Lauren Aksionoff led AU with three points, coming on a goal and two assists. The team’s lone senior, Caithlin Gorman, scored a goal in her final game as an Eagle. Juniors Brittany Finnegan, Caitlin Bell, and Jackie Lane were named to the 2007 Patriot League All-Tournament Team, and the three also represented AU on the All-League squad. Despite coming up just short of its ultimate goals, 2007 was an immensely successful year for AU and its rookie head coach, Katie Woods. Lane was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, and Bell became the first AU player to win the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award since the school joined the league in 2002. The team finished with a 9-9 overall record, the most wins seen since the 2003 season. Woods led the Eagles to the Patriot League Championship for the first time since the 2004 season, and equaled Maureen Dupcak’s record for most victories by a first-year head coach. With virtually its entire roster returning and its young coach now having a season of experience under her belt, the future looks bright for the program. |
