April 17, 2016
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Erin Keen and Michael Thorne each entered the Lafayette record books in a weekend full of strong performances on the track and the field for the Maroon and White.
A majority of the team traveled to Moravian to take part in the Greyhound Invitational, where the Leopards cracked the top-five on 10 different occasions. Others took part in the Bison Open at Bucknell, while Sam Cutrone posted a personal-best decathlon time at Kutztown's Mondshein Multi.
Keen's time in the 200-meter dash provided one of the big highlights, with the senior completing the race in 24.99 to register the second-fastest time in program history, only .15 behind Sharon Lukenda's record set 32 years ago in 1984.
Saturday's time placed Keen third in a field of 84 runners, and it was the fourth-best recorded in the Patriot League this spring. Keen also took third out of 70 competitors with a time of 12.17 in the 100 dash, finishing .04 off her season-best.
Tessa Broholm had the top individual finish on the day for the Lafayette women, placing second out of 46 runners in the 400 hurdles with a personal-best mark of 1:03.98 that ranks her fifth among Patriot League performers in 2016. Dejana Harris also cracked the top 10, finishing 10th with a PR time of 1:06.02.
Kelly Reager (sixth - 2:18.89) and Zoe Nagasing (sixth - 12:16.38) just missed out on the top five in the 800m and 3000m steeplechase, respectively.
Laura Oh and Mara Blanchard led the Leopard women in the field. Oh topped 55 competitors in the discus, with her toss of 130' 8" good enough for third place. She additionally took sixth place in the shot put (39' 5"). Blanchard, meanwhile, was fourth out of 44 in the pole vault (11' 5 3/4").
The pole vault is where Thorne entered the record books on the men's side. The sophomore cleared 14' 11" to place third out of 32 competitors, slotting him into eighth-place all-time on College Hill.
That was one of four top-five showings for the men in the field. Patrick Corcoran (174' 9 1/2") and Dave McGriff (173' 3 1/2") finished second and third, respectively, in the hammer, while McGriff also earned a fourth-place result in the shot put (49' 7"). Mike Moralle added a sixth-place finish in the javelin with a top throw of 181' 3".
Jarrel Bobb competed in the 100 dash for the second time this spring, and after reaching the finals as the No. 2 qualifier, he posted an IC4A-qualifying time of 10.85 to take fifth place in a field of 74 runners. David Sadvary also took sixth in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 10:13.36.
Caroline Harmon was the top finisher for Leopards at Bucknell, finishing 10th out of 70 in the 1500m after crossing the line in a PR time of 4:43.14. Cutrone, meanwhile, placed 15th at Kutztown with a personal-best points total of 5,562.
Lafayette returns to action at two more meets next weekend. Select Leopards will take part in the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton on Friday, while others will compete at the All-American Invite at East Stroudsburg on Saturday.