COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – It was another unseasonably cold and rainy day in the Philadelphia region today, but the Bryn Mawr track & field squad kept plugging away as the Centennial Conference Outdoor Championships continued on Saturday. With numerous Owls in action across the day, there were plenty of impressive showings despite the difficult conditions.
Alex deLeuze picked up right where she left off after leading the Owls out in day one of the championships yesterday. After four straight PRs on Friday in the opening events of her heptathlon competition, the sophomore opened with a long of 4.06 meters in the long jump to grab another 322 points towards her standings. DeLeuze then followed that up with another personal record, this time in the javelin. The sophomore posted a long of 16.02 meters in that event, good enough for fourth place and another 217 points.
Meanwhile, many other Owls were getting their championships underway up on the track. Senior Izzy Ravaglia suited up for just her second career attempt at the steeplechase on Saturday. Facing off against a competitive Centennial Conference Championship field amidst some frigid weather, Ravaglia put up a strong time of 13:19.36 to claim seventh place and earn Bryn Mawr's first points of the championship weekend.
Colby Rossmassler also raced into action for the Owls, kicking off her championships with a new personal record time of 19.51 in the 100 meter hurdles thanks to a great effort on the track.
Back over in the heptathlon, deLeuze wrapped things up with the 800 meter run. The Owls sophomore crossed the line in a time of 2:57.65 in that event, helping her clinch sixth place in the heptathlon with all seven events completed. DeLeuze's total of 2,429 points in the event is the fifth-most all-time in Bryn Mawr history, and her sixth-place finish added three more points to the Bryn Mawr team total this weekend.
On the field side, Sydney Collins got things going for the Owls with a gritty effort in the discus. Despite brutal conditions for the event, Collins managed to qualify for the finals and then held on for a gutsy eighth-place finish thanks to a long of 29.60 meters. That mark would add another point towards the Owls' weekend total.
As Collins was wrapping up at discus, Margaret Hardigg was battling it out against one of the best high jump fields in Centennial Conference history. Despite the quality of the competition, Hardigg fought through to claim a third-place finish by clearing 1.53 meters on the day. That podium finish also gained Bryn Mawr six more points towards their team total.
Today's conditions are typically especially unkind for sprinters, but the Owls' sprint crew came ready to race today. Kayla Camille led the group off with a respectable 14.17 in the 100 meter dash despite a strong headwind.
In the 400 meter dash it was Kass Wojcik's time to shine. The senior landed a lifetime personal record in the prelims on Saturday, running a 1:00.23 to easily qualify for the finals of the event on Sunday. Kris Pasia was close on Wojcik's heels, posting the tenth-best time of the afternoon in the event with a 1:02.96.
Wojcik earned another personal record in the 200 meter dash as well, running a 26.49 to finish sixth again and qualify her way into the Sunday finals. Pasia set a PR of her own in the event with a time of 27.81 while Camille rounded out the Bryn Mawr performances with a 29.53.
Rounding out day two was one of the more exciting races of the weekend, the 4x800 meter relay. With three new faces on the relay in Malin Just, Willa Sippel, and Bethany Quist and a veteran on the anchor leg in Carey Parker, this team had plenty of potential but little experience together. It was unclear what they'd be able to pull off, but the quartet gelled nicely en route to an impressive sixth-place finish on the day. The Owls posted a time of 10:06.50 in the event, just beating out Haverford and also cruising past Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, and McDaniel. That performance gave the Owls three more points towards their team total and was the first time Bryn Mawr has bested their Bi-Co rivals in at least a decade, and perhaps ever, at the Centennial Conference Outdoor Championships.
With the performances on day two, Bryn Mawr now sits in seventh place in the team standings with one more day of action to go. Be sure to follow all the action on Sunday as the Owls close out this year's outdoor championships!
*"The team was supported today by members of the Hardigg, Parker, Rossmassler, and Wojcik families as well as members of the BMC community. Many thanks to those who shared the rainy day with us and the many more that supported us from afar!" – Coach Hewitt*
