Coming off a late season disappointment in Women’s Cross Country and a rough season for the men, Coach Andrew Ronan has welcomed the coming of the indoor track and field team for the winter. Coach Ronan is expecting big things for his teams this season, feeling that they are well-prepared and hungry to show the NCAA that their successful fall season last year was no fluke.
Last fall the women repeated their conference dominance with another title, and the men finished strong with a second place finish. Eager to prove themselves, the men and women both come into this season ranked sixth, according to the preseason coaches’ poll of the America East Conference. Ranked number one in the conference in the Women’s category is Boston College, and for the men’s conference, Albany was chosen as number one.
Familiar names are scattered throughout the roster, setting up a daunting task for any runner brave enough to call themselves the best in the conference. The road to the championship runs through Stony Brook, and runners like Tim Hodge, Alex Felce, the Van Dalen twins Lucy and Holly, Laura Huet, and Carolina Cortes pave the way for the Seawolves. Hodge, from Tawa, New Zealand, will be defending his 3,000-meter title. Felce, from Stroud, England, has the most to prove, as Felce had to sit out last season. A strong return is in the cards for this junior.
The indoor season began on December 5th at the Fordham Invitational. Junior Lisa Voltaire, from Stockholm, Sweden, took the only Seawolves top finish, with two others finishing in the top five in that event.
Voltaire took the top spot in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in a time of 10:53.5, seven seconds ahead of the second place finisher from Iona. The other runners in the top five were junior Jacquie Kehoe, from Katonah, NY, and junior Kurt Wende, from Williamsville, NY, both finishing fourth in their events, the 3,000-meter.
The 1,000-meter race was just as successful for the Seawolves, who had two top five finishers for the women and one for the men. Sophomore Kristina Doyle, from Lockport, N.Y., took third in a time of 3:23.1 and sophomore Kristen Connolly, from Massapequa, N.Y., placed right behind Doyle three seconds later in fourth with a time of 3:26.1.
For the men, Junior Brandon Leung, from Rego Park, NY, took third in the men’s 1,000- meter with a time of 2:38.1. The men’s overall top finish came from senior Merlon Pinnock, hailing from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who had crossed second in the 400-meter in a time of 52.6. The men’s team also received a second-place finish from their 4X400 relay team, finishing with a time of 3:39.3.
Rounding out the top-five finishes were freshman Matthew Carnes, from Hillsborough, N.J., placing fourth in the shot put with a distance of 11.94 meters and senior Gary Chan, from Flushing, N.Y., whose placed fifth with a time of 4:28.3 in the mile.
On the 15th of December, Stony Brook got to send three runners to compete in the exclusive Harvard Open. The select three were Daire Bermingham, from Portmarnock, Ireland, Alex Felce, and Laura Huet, from Carrickmines, Ireland.
Huet dominated the competition, placing first in the 3,000-meter run, which was 35 seconds faster than the second place finisher. Her time of 9:52.88 qualified her for the ECAC’s.
Bermingham and Felce both competed in the men’s 3,000-meter run, finishing one and two, respectively. The race was a close one, with the two runners exchanging leads throughout the entire race, but it was Bermingham who proved the better, finishing with a time of 8:30.01, three seconds better than his counterpart, who finished with a time of 8:33.19.
The next race did not take place until a month later, in New York City at NYU, with the Seawolves competing in the Gotham Cup.
Continuing their dominion of the 3,000-meter event, Lucy Van Dalen, from Wanganui, New Zealand, finished first with her school record setting victory in this event. Finishing with a time of 9:26.68, Van Dalen shattered the old time of 9:38.71. This time also qualified the sophomore for the ECAC Championships, not to mention the time being a NCAA Provisional qualifying time. On top of that, the NCAA saw fit to name Van Dalen the America East Track Performer of the week. The time was also nineteen seconds faster than the second place finisher from La Salle.
On the men’s side of the 3,000-meter Daire Bermingham placed third with a time of 8:21.99. This time is fast enough to qualify for the IC4A Championships.
Also finishing in third place for Stony Brook was freshman Hayley Green, from Wellington, New Zealand. Green was the third runner to cross in the women’s 5,000-meter with a time of 17:40.12.
Rounding out the top-ten finishes for the women’s team was Laura Huet, Huet taking seventh place in the mile with a time of 5:06.80, and sophomore Leanne Skrabacz , hailing from West Seneca, N.Y. who placed tenth in the 3,000-meter with her own time of 10:58.66.
On the track for the men, Brandon Leung finished seventh in the men’s 800-meter. His time was 2:00.35. Meanwhile, in the field, two Seawolves placed within the top ten. These two Seawolves were sophomore Alex Raffio, from Crugers, N.Y., who took ninth in the high jump with a height of 1.84 meters and freshman Matthew Carnes, from Hillsborough, N.J, who placed sixth in the shot put with a distance of 12.62 meters.
All in all, the Seawolves finished with eight total runners to place in the top ten, no small feat for any team.
After a stop in Albany this past weekend, the team travels to New York City for the Metropolitan Championships.
