The IC4A/ECAC Championships took place this past weekend up in Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Junior Alex Felce, one of two Stony Brook Seawolves representatives, finished third in the men’s 1,000-meter event. In what proved to be a very exciting race ended with a bang with Felce finished just over a second behind the first-place finisher. Felce completed the 1,000-meter in a time of 2:26.40 on Sunday. Ian Fitzgerald, from William ‘ Mary’s, won the event with a time of 2:25.37. Just a day before at the preliminaries, Felce set a new school record in the men’s 1,000-meter during his trial run. With a time of 2:24.68, Felce was fast enough to qualify for the next day’s final and finished second overall in his heat.
On the women’s side, junior Laura Huet took fifth overall in the 3,000-meter in the ECAC Championship finals. Huet completed the race with a time of 9:34.27, which happens to be a season and career best time for the young runner.
On the day of preliminaries, the Seawolves team looked more formidable than just two runners. But then the events started. The team consisted of Juniors Tim Hodge and Daire Bermingham in the 3,000-meter and Sophomore Carolina Cortes was the other member of the women’s team to run, competing in the 1,000-meter.
Hodge ran a season-best of 8:17.73, finishing tenth, while Bermingham crossed 20th in 8:33.25. Coach Ronan praised both Felce and Huet with their performances, lamenting their close finishes wishing for first place standings and extolling their accomplishments, stating their work efforts paid off on this day.
In a not-so-surprising move, the three Seawolves were named to the America East Indoor Track and Field All Academic Team. Felce was named from the men’s team and Huet was named for the women’s team, along with sophomore Lucy Van Dalen.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time. To be nominated for such a prestigious distinction, the athletes must be starting or an important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games or competitions. All this seems easy until the second stipulation; in the classroom, the student-athlete must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their college or university.
Fans will hopefully remember this exciting season as the most dominant season by a single runner, Van Dalen, in Stony Brook Track history. Van Dalen ran through the rankings as if the competition were standing still, setting three new school records and winning two America East titles. Adding onto the list of these accomplishments, Lucy will become the first student-athlete in Stony Brook Track and Field history to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships later this month.