March 27, 2012

Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Release (3.27.12)

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Army, Lafayette and Navy all went right to work, delivering postseason-qualifying performances in season-opening meets over the last two weeks.

Army’s Jessica Waggoner and Lisa Junta each qualified for the ECAC Championships and were honored by the Patriot League in the first set of weekly outdoor track awards. Waggoner was named the Female Field Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career and Lisa Junta was named the Female Rookie of the Week after earning three Rookie of the Week awards during the indoor track season.

Waggoner was fifth in the discus (152-4) on March 16 at the Bulls Invitational, and second in the discus (145-0) Saturday at UVA. Junta placed first in the 5,000 at UVA with a time of 17:15.97. All three performances met ECAC standards.

Lafayette led the League, sweeping the three men’s weekly awards after competing at the Shamrock Invitational in Conway, S.C. Jerome Rudolph, who was seventh in the 100 with an IC4A time of 10.60 seconds, was named the Male Track Athlete of the Week.

Chris Luna placed fourth in the javelin (212-3) and freshman teammate Kevin Seery placed fifth (200-7), both qualifying for the IC4A championships. Luna was named the Male Field Athlete of the Week and Seery was named the Male Rookie of the Week.

Navy’s Brigid Byrne was the final weekly award winner, being named the Female Track Athlete of the Week after finishing first in the 5,000 (17:25.07) at the Navy Invitational. Her teammate, Lauren Allam, had a first-place finish in the discus with an ECAC qualifying distance of 142-7.

The Navy men have produced several IC4A qualifying performances in the early going, highlighted by Cody Rome’s first-place finish in the 5,000 (14:25.58) at the Navy Invitational and Miles Snelgrove’s pair of first-place finishes in the javelin — 208-5 at Point Loma Open and 203-6 at Navy Invitational. Freshman Mark Vetere, who was the Rookie of the Meet at the Patriot League Indoor Championships, met an IC4A standard in the pole vault on Saturday with a height of 15-9.

American, Army, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy are all in action this weekend.

Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Weekly Awards

MALE TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
JEROME RUDOLPH, LAFAYETTE Sr., Lithonia, Ga.
Rudolph finished seventh in the 100-meter dash at the Shamrock Invitational in Conway, S.C., with an IC4A time of 10.60 seconds. This is Rudolph’s first career outdoor weekly award.

FEMALE TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
BRIGID BYRNE, NAVY Jr., Vienna, Va.
Byrne finished first in the 5,000 at the Navy Invitational with a time of 17:25.07, falling short of the ECAC time. This is her first outdoor weekly award.

MALE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
CHRIS LUNA, LAFAYETTE So., Wood Ridge, N.J.
Luna placed fourth in the javelin at the Shamrock Invitational in Conway, S.C., besting an IC4A standard with a distance of 212-3. This is Luna’s first outdoor weekly award.

FEMALE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
JESSICA WAGGONER, ARMY So., Minden, Nev.
Waggoner posted a pair of ECAC-qualifying distances in the discus in consecutive meets for the Black Knights. On March 16, she placed fifth with a toss of 152-4 at the Bulls Invitational, and on Saturday, she placed second at UVA with a distance of 145-0. This is her first outdoor weekly award.

MALE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
KEVIN SEERY, LAFAYETTE Fr., Hanover Park, N.J.
Seery placed fifth in the javelin at the Shamrock Invitational in Conway, S.C., meeting an IC4A standard with a distance of 200-7. This is his first outdoor weekly award.

FEMALE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
LISA JUNTA, ARMY Fr., Springfield, Va.
Junta finished first out of six runners in the 5,000 in a meet at UVA Saturday. She finished with an ECAC time of 17:15.97. She also finished 10th out of 61 runners at the Bulls Invitational on March 16. This is her first outdoor weekly award after winning three indoor Rookie of the Week awards.

TOM WAGNER, ARMY Sr., Clinton, N.Y.
Wagner met an IC4A mark with a height of 6-8¼, finishing first in the high jump at the Virginia Team Swashbuckle on Saturday.

CHASE BRADFORD, HOLY CROSS Sr., West Bridgewater, Mass.
Bradford placed second in the javelin with an IC4A toss of 193-11 at the Husky Spring Open.

E’LANA LEMON, LEHIGH Jr., West Orange, N.J.
Lemon finished first in the hammer throw with an ECAC distance of 175-10 at the Big 5 Invite. 

LAUREN ALLAM, NAVY So., Pasadena, Md.
Allam placed first in the discus at the Navy Invitational with an ECAC distance of 142-7. She also placed fourth in the shot put (40-10½).

CODY ROME, NAVY Sr., Eagle, Idaho
Rome finished first in the 5,000 with an IC4A time of 14:25.58 at the Navy Five-Team Meet.

MILES SNELGROVE, NAVY Jr., Lebanon, Conn.
Snelgrove posted back-to-back first-place finishes in the javelin with an IC4A distance of 208-5 at the Point Loma Open and an IC4A distance of 203-6 at the Navy Meet.

MARK VETERE, NAVY Fr., Andover, Md.
Vetere placed first in the pole vault at the Navy Five Team Meet with an IC4A distance of 15-9.