JCU women track stars shine in 600- and 200-meter dashes; team finishes first

The+Blue+Streaks+compete+at+Ohio+Northern+on+Jan.+29

BW Sports Information

The Blue Streaks compete at Ohio Northern on Jan. 29

Kyle Kelly, Sports Editor

Only a week into the season and the John Carroll Women’s Track and Field Team has already found its stride.

The Blue Streaks dominated the competition with nine first-place finishes in 18 events, netting a total of 155 points. JCU edged out Ohio Northern (111) and Baldwin Wallace (81) on Jan. 30 at ONU in Ada, Ohio. 

John Carroll was best represented in the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes where they claimed the top five spots in both events. JCU also nearly swept the field events, only missing out on a gold finish in the long jump.

The Blue Streaks started off on the right foot with their first event, which was the 60-meter. Junior Lucia Cannata (7.87 seconds) earned first place. Sophomore Taylor Anthony, the reigning OAC Player of the Week, finished only 0.06 seconds behind her teammate, Cannata. Seniors Courtney Phoennik (8.24 seconds) and Maria DeLuca (8.29 seconds) represented JCU in the No. 3 and No. 4 slots. First-year Tori Miller’s time of 8.52 seconds finished fifth.

Cannata, Anthony and Miller also finished in the same spots in the 200-meter dash. Cannata’s time of 26.22 seconds beat Anthony by just 0.56 seconds. The first-year tandem of Genevieve Arnold (28.02 seconds) and Claire Eberhardt (28.80 seconds) tallied third and fourth place. Miller fell into fifth place by only 0.04 seconds.

Eberhardt and Arnold also raced in the 800-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, respectively, and both placed second. Eberhardt’s time in the 800 of 2:22.60 was 0.09 seconds beyond the winner. 

Junior Olivia Hurtt continued her stellar third-year campaign with victories in the shot put and weight throw. In the weight throw, Hurtt’s mark of 15.14 meters surpassed second-place Emily Tackett from ONU by 3.13 meters. Hurtt’s shot put throw traveled 11.46 meters.

Also in the field events, Phoennik won the high jump with a leap of 1.55 meters. Phoennik also finished second in the long jump. Lastly, DeLuca won the triple jump with a result of 11.15 meters.

JCU also accomplished first place in the 400-, 1,000- and 3,000-meter races. Junior Autumn Hale (1:03.68) won the 400-meter, placing ahead of first-year teammate Katelyn Testa by o.17 seconds. First-year Amanda Keim ran the 1,000-meter in 3:10.60, and sophomore Erica Esper completed the 3,000-meter in 10.35.37.

Senior Morgan Kelley finished second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:35.37.

In the one-mile run, the result was particularly odd. Sophomore Sydney Jenko finished second with a time of 5:09.93, which was less than a half-second behind first-place winner Hope Murphy from Baldwin-Wallace. In the preliminary round of the mile, Jenko beat Murphy by nearly 11 seconds. 

The Blue Streaks did not compete in the 4 x 200- relay, 4 x 400-meter relay, 500-meter run, or pole vault competitions. Yet, they still beat out second-place BW by 44 points. 

Next up, the Blue and Gold will travel to Alliance to compete in a conference meet against Heidelberg, Mount Union and ONU on Feb. 6.