The track and field team competed at the Virginia Challenge, the Navy Spring Invite and the Bucknell Team Challenge this past week. At Bucknell University, the men’s team placed second and the women’s team scored third.
Hosted at Virginia University, senior Nava Chevan and junior Alexa LaSasso ran the 800-meter in the Virginia Challenge on April 18.
Chevan broke her outdoor school record in the 800-meter again with a 2:07.89 time — just less than a quarter of a second under her previous record — and placed eighth. LaSasso landed 19th.
“I think just having the opportunity to be running with great competition is really helpful,” Chevan said. “We don’t get as many of those opportunities sometimes in our typical season.”
Sophomore Abbey Nichols and freshman Brea White competed in the heptathlon at the Naval Academy’s Spring Invite on April 18-19. Nichols and White placed in the bottom rungs out of 12, with final scores of 3,512 and 3,052, respectively.
The rest of the team took on six opposing teams at Bucknell, landing several first-place finishes in track and field events.
On the field, senior Erin O’Leary landed first in the hammer throw, an event she has almost exclusively topped in this outdoor season thus far.
Senior Jack Lynett also rocketed to a win in the pole vault, clearing 15’5.75″.
“It’s been a rough start to the outdoor season, but now I feel like I’m starting to get into a groove,” he said. “I feel like a lot of my teammates are starting to get into a groove.”
Around the track, sophomore Bridget Shaver crossed first in the 5,000-meter at 18:31.36 for her first college win, just two seconds before Bucknell.
“I passed her on the final straight away, which I was excited about,” she said. “I’m usually not known for my kick, but I was able to really kick it at the last 100 meters.”
Sophomore Jack Liedtka placed fourth and tied for all-time fourth-best for the Leopards in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.64, also for a personal record.
The current Lafayette record for men’s 110-meter hurdles is 14.42 seconds.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is for sure,” Liedtka said about the difference between fourth best and the school record. “With the hurdles, you could have one little thing go wrong and throw off your whole race. So you really need to have the perfect race.”
Chevan and O’Leary will compete at the University of Pennsylvania for the Penn Relays through the weekend.
“It’s a super exciting meet,” said Chevan, who will be running in the 4×400 meter in hopes of getting into the first heat for Patriot League championships.
The team will then go to Lehigh University for the Covert Classic on Friday and Saturday.
Lynett called the latter a “good warm-up for leagues.”
“Might be my last race of the season,” Shaver said. “I’m just hoping to put my all into it and finish strong.”
