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Matt Seymour
Photo by Larry French |
Track teams
garner wins
by Kenny Lucas
The AU men’s and women’s indoor track teams didn’t
win the team titles at the Patriot League championships, but they
did bring home several individual wins and quite a few school records.
Moreover, the teams, which are currently considerably smaller than
their competitors, served notice that they’ll soon be ready
for strong runs at the overall championships.
“I’m very satisfied,” head coach Matt Centrowitz
said. “Both teams improved over last year.”
Senior Matt Seymour led the men’s squad to a fourth place finish
and was named the Patriot League Track Athlete of the Meet in the
process. Seymour won both the 5,000 and 3,000 meter titles, and
produced the second fastest indoor 5,000 time in school history.
Phil Gaeta finished second in the mile by .02 of a second, and Chris
Buerger and Sean Duffy also collected second place in individual
events. On the second day of the meet, Dustin Emrani, Duffy, Gaeta,
and Rob Hofmann teamed up to run the fastest 4X800 relay in school
history.
On the women’s side, freshman Kelley Taylor won the mile in
4:57.51, and sophomore Zaia Wharton brought home first place in
the 1,000 meters in 2:56.91. Keira Carlstrom finished second in
the mile, just .31 seconds behind Taylor, and set a new school record
in the 3,000 meters. Carlstrom, Whitney McNees, Ashley Dellinger,
and Taylor teamed up to win the distance medley relay, and McNees,
Taylor, Carlstrom, and Wharton ran the fastest 4X800 in school history
to take second place in the event.
Because both the men’s and women’s teams lost just one
senior this year, the individual titles should only continue, and
the Eagles should be major contenders for the team titles in years
to come. “We have a great young team, and we have our largest
freshman class coming in next year,” Centrowitz said. “We
are just going to get better.”
Field hockey among the nation’s best
The AU field hockey team finished its season several months ago,
but Steve Jennings’s squad is still earning accolades. The
Eagles were ranked ninth in the nation in the final 2003 NCAA Field
Hockey Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). The ranking is the highest
in school history.
The 2003 Eagles finished the season 17-4 overall and swept to the
Patriot League title with a 6-0 record. They bowed out of their
inaugural NCAA tournament losing to Duke in the first round. The
spectacular season earned individual awards for several members
of the team. Junior Javiera Villagra became the third player in
school history voted to the STX/NVHCA Division I All-America First
Team. She was joined on the STX/NVHCA Division I All-Region First
Team by her teammate Camila Infante, the Patriot League Rookie of
the Year. Jennings, the conference coach of the year, also was named
the Dita/NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.
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