The Lions picked up accolades, All-American honors and second place overal at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships over two weeks of competion.
DePauw University played host to the NCAA Division III Track and Field National Championships this past weekend and several Lions competitors earned the title of All-American.
Michelle Wallace was dual All-American for her individual performance in the 5,000-meter run, finishing seventh with a time of 17:09.09, as well as competing with the women’s distance medley relay alongside Katie Nestor, Brielle Doremus and Meryl Wimberly. They clocked in at 11:56.92, good enough for fourth place.
“I’m very happy with both performances,” Wallace said. “Individually I did exactly what I wanted to and as a team we ran to the best of our abilities.”
“It’s very hard,” Wallace continued, “to get everyone to run a great race together, on the same day, at the same time, but we were able to do that. Coming in fourth in the nation is a great feeling.”
Senior Priscilla Senyah and junior Jianna Spadaccini also received All-American honors with third place efforts, Senyah in the 55-meter hurdle event with a time of 8.15, and Spadaccini for her 800 meter run time of 2:10.45.
“(Senyah) and (Spadacinni’s) performances played huge factors in our eight place finish overall,” Wallace said. “Both of them did a great job and stepped up big time.”
Kyle Gilroy was the lone male to have title of All-American bestowed upon him. Gilroy, a junior, finished seventh in the 55-meter hurdles event breaking the tape at 7.67.
One weekend earlier the Lions traveled to Smith College in Northampton where both the men and women’s squads earned second place finishes in fields of 63 (men) and 62 (women) respectively in the ECAC Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The women, who racked up 64 total points, fell just a half point short behind the overall champion Ithaca College.
Michelle Wallace notched another title on her storied belt in the 3,000-meter race clocking in at 10:05.21. Freshman Rachel Morris finished fourth in this race at 10:37.24.
Senyah set a school record in the 55-meter hurdles event with a time of 8.13.
Spadaccini won the 800-meter race, breaking the tape at 2:13.02, while Nestor recorded a first place performance of her own in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:01.66.
The men accumulated 48 points and finished in a second place tie with Southern Maine University, and four points behind the event champion Ithaca College.
Gilroy and junior Rob Nihen took second place in their respective events, Gilroy in the 55-meter hurdles race at a time of 7.78, and Nihen in the 3,000 meter event at 8:41.82.
Senior Dennie Waite was the champion of the one mile run recording a time of 4:14.45.
Next up for the Lions Track and Field Program is the Danny Curran Invitational on Saturday March 27 at Widener University.
