Several Lions succeeded in their respective events at the Danny Curran Invitational in Chester, Pa. The event, hosted by Widener University, did nothing but bolster the College's winning ways.
Junior Jessica Bonelli led the College with one of her best meets in recent memory. Bonelli first won the 200 meters, clocking in at 25.78. She was a part of the victorious 4x100 team and the first-place 4x400 contingent. The 4x100 relay unit, comprised of Bonelli and freshmen Kristen Tricocci, Priscilla Senyah and Jennifer Caratola, finished its event with a time of 51.23.
As for the 4x400 team, it finished with a time of 4:01.91 behind the efforts of senior Angela Tecco, freshman Jianna Spadaccini, Bonelli and Tricocci. Tricocci won the long jump with a distance of 5.11 meters.
Sophomore Stephanie Herrick added a second-place finish in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:44.66. Tecco added her own top-three finish in the 400 meters with a third-place mark of 1:00.72. Freshman Meghan Miller was third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 67.44. Junior Sara Best turned in a fourth place finish with a time of 2:21.60 in the women's 800 meters.
Good things also came in threes at the meet, as three Lions women placed in the 5,000 meters. Sophomore Megan O'Leary led the way by taking fifth place with a time of 18:42.93, followed by senior Jenna Prendergast, who finished sixth in 18:49.94. Senior Allyson Krayl rounded out the race for the Lions with a time 18:57.76 for a seventh-place mark.
Leading the way for the Lions men was junior Brian Donatelli. After finishing as high as ninth in his three events last week, Donatelli placed second in the hammer throw at a distance of 49.76 meters. Donatelli is coming off a previous performance that he called "subpar."
Junior Galen Johnson, who for the first time competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, clocked in at 9:52.11 for fourth place. Sophomore Matt Dolan also achieved a fourth-place finish in the 10,000 meters at a time of 33:25.32.
"I'm content with how I did personally, but I'm always looking to do better," Johnson said. "The team did alright as a whole and we could have performed better, but it's still early in the season."
The fourth-place trend did not end there, as the 4x100 relay team also achieved the mark. Junior Wes Friedman, sophomore Rob McGowan and freshmen Lee Jones and Mark Gardner combined on this finish with a time of 43.77 seconds.
Senior Dan Mitchell placed in three field events. Mitchell finished in seventh in the long jump at 6.26 meters, eighth in the high jump at six feet even and 11th in the javelin at a distance of 48.80 meters.
Jones also added a fifth place finish at 22.76 in the 200 meters with McGowan clocking in at 22.99 to take ninth in the same event.
As for the men's 5,000-meter team, sophomore Greg Bull brought home a third-place mark of 15:24.05, while sophomore Al Wonesh also took third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.35. Junior Otto Katt followed Wonesh closely, taking fourth in the same event with a time of 57.98.
Senior Colin Pierce and junior Brian Kopnicki each took fifth in their respective events, with Pierce's distance of 13.01 meters in the triple jump and Kopnicki's time of 3:59.71 in the 1,500 meters. Freshman Steve Murray placed eighth in the 400-meter run with a time of 51.28 while freshman Rich Nelson finished eighth in the 800 meters at 1:59.27.
The Lions' next events are on Friday at the Duke University Invitational in Durham, N.C., and the Sam Howell Memorial in Princeton. The Sam Howell Memorial extends through Saturday.
