Track and Field strike gold at LEC championship meet. Image courtesy of Beacon Athletics.
It was a golden hour for the men’s and women’s track and field teams at the Little East Conference Championships on Feb. 18. After terrific seasons across the board for both teams, the runners who participated in the championship had some pep in their steps—some returning to Beaconville bearing gold medals and top three finishes.
Women’s track and field had a ball at the championship, and while their overall team ranking may have been seventh overall out of the eight teams that participated, it certainly does not reflect how great the runners did individually. Headlining the performances were freshmen Jacqueline Earner and Aryianna Garceau, both of whom flashed glimpses of how great they will be as individual runners and key contributors to the program in the coming years.
Garceau, who took home LEC rookie of the week on Feb. 13 (1), added to her impressive resume with an insane performance at the meet, the highlight of which was a 9.58s first-place finish in the 60m hurdles. The finish was one of five different 60m hurdle runs this season by Garceau that were fast enough to break the previous program record held by Olivia Volante, giving Garceau bragging rights for the top five fastest times in program history. She added to her impressive showing with fifth-place finishes in the 60m and 400m run, as well as a seventh-place finish in the 200m run, crossing the finish line with times of 8.29s, 1:07.33 and 27.84s, respectively (2).
Garceau, of course, was not the only track and field star to earn a gold medal at the LEC championship. Jacqueline Earner accomplished the same feat and earned herself a gold medal with her efforts in the 800m run, and with a time of 2:25:55, it was her personal best in the category. Earner also teamed up with Angelina Mazzone, Harleen Bassan and Charlotte Millette in the 4×400 relay, where they placed fourth in the race with a time of 4:48:04, notching four of the 32 points scored for the Beacons that day (2). Grace Colon substituted for Millette in the 4×800 relay, and after coming in sixth in the 1,000m run with a time of 3:36.23, she helped contribute to a fifth-place finish. The tetrad crossed with a time of 11:26:43 and added two points to the Beacons’ final score of 32 (2).
While women’s track was able to come back with gold medals, men’s track was unfortunately unable to do the same. However, they still had fantastic results across the leaderboard. Jimmy Cannon, who’s one half of the dynamic duo known as the Cannon brothers, was the top finisher for the Beacons and was the closest to earning a gold medal himself. His time of 15:37.02 in the 5,000m run gave him second place, while his other individual performance in the 3,000m run saw him come in fifth with a time of 9:05:00 (3).
The other half of the dynamic duo, Rob Cannon, scored his personal best in the 1,000m run with a time of 2:46.31, giving him ninth place. Frank Boua also secured a personal best in the meet. His time of 54.94s in the 400m run helped him finish in eighth place for the Beacons. The Cannon brothers also competed alongside Zeph Alvarado and Chris Druding in the 4x800m relay, where they came in sixth with a mark of 9:18.44 on the timer. All of the points culminated to 11 total for the Beacons, and though they finished last out of the eight teams that competed, the meet still highlighted tremendous performances put on by men’s track and field.
Both track and field teams have shown countless times the amount of potential they possess, and the LEC Championship meet proved that they will only get better. Even with poor point totals in regards to team rankings, the Beacons still saw individuals from each squad get their fair share of success, some of which is now embroidered with gold. With regionals now behind them, and the DIII qualifiers and championship looming in the distance, it’s time to take in the superb show being put on display by the teams, and watch them embark on a journey toward finding greatness over the next couple of weeks.