The track and field team traveled to the Naval Academy last weekend and came home with a school record, two event victories and a series of all-time marks.
In the men’s pole vault, sophomore Jack Larson cleared 16’ 9.5,” breaking a 42-year-old school record by nearly 2 inches. His mark earned him second place in the meet, as well as second in the Patriot League and 89th across all Division I pole vaulters.
“At first, it didn’t really register,” Larson said. “I was just kind of in the zone. I had already PR’d once that meet, then cleared the next bar on my first attempt, and all my friends were around me.”
The pole vault depth did not end there. Senior Ben Hill was fifth (15’ 11.75”), a mark that ranks third all-time for the Leopards. In the women’s pole vault, freshman Brooklyn Genduso was seventh in the event (12’ 1.5”), also moving her to third all-time in program history.
“Genuinely, this felt like one of the best meets we’ve had as a team,” sophomore Iyun Franklin-Ayeni said. “Everybody was getting PRs, everybody was just doing super well, it was an exciting day for a lot of people.”
In the throwing events, senior Bobby McClosky won the javelin (203’ 0”). Sophomore Javin Petry was second in the hammer (178’ 8”). On the women’s side, freshman Ava Reese was fourth in the shot put (43’ 9.75”), which ranks fourth all-time. Freshman Kennedy Miller joins Reese on the all-time list at seventh, thanks to her sixth-place finish in the event (42’ 4.75”).
Shifting to the track, senior Quinn Worrell won the 1,500-meter (3:50.97). Junior John Liedtka took second in the 110-meter hurdles (14.43), which is second in school history.
Franklin-Ayeni led the women’s hurdle group with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (14.73), moving her to ninth all-time for the Leopards.
“The time was a shock,” Franklin-Ayeni said. “It was a huge PR, before that, I was running like 15.3 and 15.2.”
Franklin-Ayeni also finished second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:08.11).
“Honestly, the race itself was a bit of a struggle,” she said. “I did stutter over some hurdles, but the 400-hurdles is always a race that I try not to put too much weight on. I feel like the 100-hurdles is really where my skill set lies.”
The men’s 4×100-meter relay team of senior Roman Conca, juniors Alexander Caba and Harrison Rosen and sophomore Kaseme Leckie came in second (41.08), tying for fifth all-time at Lafayette. Leckie was also sixth in the 200-meter (21.46), marking him seventh all-time.
The Leopards will compete in another pair of meets this weekend, sending athletes to both the Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Covert Classic at Lehigh University.
“It’s definitely a big confidence boost,” Larson said. “I narrowly missed a regional qualifying mark, so I’ll be chasing that, and I’m looking forward to putting on a show at Lehigh.”
Brea White ‘28 contributed reporting.