Dec. 1, 2009
The 2009-10 women's track team looks to vie for a top-five spot with nearly all of its top performers returning to head coach Kevin Quinn's squad this season.
Four senior captains will lead the Hawks, Nicole McMullen, Kristen Pierce, Beth Getty and Keirsten Quinn all bring great leadership capabilities and valuable experience to the team.
McMullen, the team's 2008 Most Outstanding Performer, holds records in the 200m indoor and outdoor dash and the 300m indoor dash. McMullen is a well-rounded athlete, participating in everything from the 55m dash to the 400m dash as well as the long jump.
Along with McMullen, Pierce also holds SJU records in 55m and 60m indoor hurdles. Pierce was also a member of the outdoor track All-Atlantic 10 Second Team in the hurdles for the second consecutive year.
Rounding out the senior ranks are sprinters Caitlin McGrath and Cara Quinn along with long sprinter/hurdler Morgan Matecki and jumper Erin Vanderhoof.
The talented junior class is led by Kristin Andrews in long sprints and hurdles and Nohjay Nimpson in the jumps and javelin. Andrews broke a school record last year in 400m outdoor hurdles. Aimee Chegwidden, Christina Morelli and Jessica Di Cicco are SJU's long distance threats, while Laura Faller will hold her own in the middle distance races.
Jessica Chen returns to the Hawks in sprints and hurdles, while Carolyn Bieganousky looks to return to hurdles from an injury during her freshman campaign.
The sophomore class brings tremendous depth to jumps and hurdles as Emily Coldren and Ashley Williams return to sprints and jumps while Allison Smith returns to jumps and Stefani Zabilowicz to hurdles. Complementing the jumping crew are sprinters Karly Cahill and Lauren Wenzel. Anna Casey, Samantha Peters, and Kelsey Rose come back to the middle distance events with Katie Barrett, Kathleen Casey, Carolyn Haggerty, Beth Lambright, and Elizabeth Welsh giving the distance events plenty of options.
The newcomers are 12 freshmen consisting of two distance runners and a trio of middle distance runners. Maureen O'Donnell and Sarah Donahue are the distance additions while Sara Walker, Lena Finucane, and Katie Piaazza are among the middle distance runners. Genevieve Ruppel and Genevieve Reardon are additions to the Hawk jumpers. Ruppel will also compete in sprints along with Shannon Geddes and Danielle Osbourne, who is also a hurdler along with Francesca D'Angelo.
SCHEDULE
For the indoor portion of the schedule SJU opens with six one-day meets at Haverford (Dec. 5), Princeton (Dec. 11), Delaware (Jan. 8), Penn State (Jan. 9), Gotham Cup(Jan. 15), and Princeton (Jan. 23).
The remainder of the indoor slate includes two-day meets at the Penn State National Invitational (Jan. 29-30) and the Yale Invitational (Feb. 5-6). A trip to the Lafayette-Rider meet and trips back to Delaware and Haverford are among the last qualifying opportunities for the athletes leading into the A-10 Championships.
The two-day Atlantic 10 meet takes place once again at Rhode Island on Feb. 19-20, followed by the NYU Fastrack meet on Feb. 26 and the ECAC Championships on March 6-7.
The Hawks head outdoors to the Leopard Invitational at Lafayette March 27 before traveling south to Williamsburg, Virginia and the Colonial Relays April 2-3.
Virginia's Onesty Invitational (April 10), Princeton's Larry Ellis Invitational (April 17) and the prestigious Penn Relays (April 23-25) lead up to the A-10 Outdoor Championships at Massachusetts (May 1-2).
Saint Joseph's will participate in the Swarthmore Last Chance meet on May 10 before the ECAC Championships May 15-16 at Princeton.
There will be few shortcomings for the track seasons as the SJU women's team has the potential to be one of Saint Joseph's most successful teams in 2009-10.
