March 17, 2007

PEMBROKE, N.C.—The St.Andrews Presbyterian College track and field teams opened up their second season with four individual victories, four runner-up finishes, and four third place showings at the 2007 Braves Track & Field Classic hosted by UNC-Pembroke on Saturday.

The young Knights track and field teams, under second year head coach Gary Aycock, battled through the events on a windy day that saw gusts at over 25 miles per hour while still posting impressive results.

The St. Andrews women’s squad competed in just five events with junior Veronica Gobeyn leading the way winning the 3,000-meter run. Gobeyn finished ahead of 11 other entrants with a personal record (PR) of 11:30.38. Three other Lady Knights competed in the 3,000-meter trek for the first time. Freshman Bonnie MacDonald finished in 13:21.29; freshman Lauren Crabb took 15:46.42; and junior Jordan Copp concluded at 17:11.85.

Sophomore Alyson Trovato led five SAPC women’s runners in the 1,500-meter run with a second place finish out of 15 participants. Trovato took 5:20.98 to finish the race while Gobeyn placed third with a time of 5:26.32. Also running in the 1,500-meter was sophomore Rachael Ambrosia (5:48.48), freshman Heather Woodard (5.53.59), and MacDonald (6:01.65).

Ambrosia was the only Knight that competed in the 800-meter run finishing seventh with a speed of 2:52.91.

Junior Tessa Franz entered her second season throwing the javelin for St. Andrews and had her third best result over that span finishing second out of seven entrants. Franz earned the runner-up result with a distance of 31.41-meters.

Freshman Tyler Lee became the first Lady Knights to hurl the shot put at SAPC setting a benchmark of 7.36-meters in the inaugural competition.

The St. Andrews men’s track & field team competed in 10 events to start the 2007 season.

The Knights dominated the 1,500-meter run taking the top three spots out of 15 runners. Freshman Ryan Janes won the event with a time of 4:14.86. Freshman Pedro Tapia, Jr. and sophomore Mitch Cooper finished second and third, respectively, with times of 4:19.13 and 4:21.65. Also racing in the 1,500m were freshman James Lloyd (4:43.56), freshman Brad McKee (4:44.51), and sophomore Perry Morris (4:55.34).

St. Andrews also littered the results for 5,000-meter run including the top two finishers. Tapia Jr., won the event with a SAPC record time of 15:57.23 while Cooper finished second with a speed of 16:13.15. Four other Knights competed in the 5,000m including McKee (18:36.09), Lloyd (18:39.60), Morris (19:19.46), and junior Patrick Hogan (19:29.69).

Matthew Rogers was the fourth St. Andrews’ entrant to win a competition for the Knights. Rogers broke the school record in the shot put with an 11.48 meter throw to win the event. Matt O’Brien finished fourth heaving the shot put 10.57m while David Humboldt set a PR of 9.87m.

In the only other throwing event, Kaelan Garner finished third in the javelin throw for SAPC with a distance of 36.13 meters.

Freshman Ryan Janes just missed the school record in the 800-meter run with a third place finish out of 13 runners. Janes crossed the finish line in 2:06.36.

Freshman Derek Smith was the first Knight to ever compete in the men’s 400-meter dash setting finishing the inaugural race in 58.97. In the 200-meter dash, Rob Hritz and Brett Alldrich had times of 25.32 and 25.86, respectively. Hritz also led three St. Andrews speedsters in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.31. Alldrich (12.41) and Kenny Hernandez (13.73) also sprinted to the finish.

The 2007 Braves Classic also featured St. Andrews competing in its first two jumping events. Freshman Cameron Cofield set the best Knights mark in the long jump with a distance of 5.64m while sophomore Greg Gross jumped 4.10m. Smith led two SAPC leapers in the triple jump with a total distance of 11.92m while Cofield was just behind at 11.87m.

St. Andrews will next compete in the Cape Fear Classic hosted by UNC-Wilmington on March 23-24.