KINGSTON, R.I. – Senior Claudine Andre won the gold medal in a high jump performance for the ages and junior sprint standout Nathaniela Bourdeau medaled twice to lead the Saint Joseph's women's track and field squad to a ninth-place finish in a field of 13 teams at the two-day 2018 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the University of Rhode Island's Mackal Fieldhouse this weekend. Eight Hawks scored out of eight separate individual events while SJU scored all three of its relays en route to 45 points on the weekend.
Andre entered the weekend tied for second in the A-10 standings with a season-best high jump mark of 5' 7” (1.70m), while the top mark in the A-10 stood at 5' 8 3/4” (1.75m), by UMass' Jada Harris.
On Sunday morning, Andre tore down SJU's school record in the event with a height of 5' 9 1/4” (1.76m) to claim the gold medal over UMass' Harris (5' 8”) and Samantha Thompson (5' 8”). Andre won the title in a field of 16 to earn 10 points for the Hawks and avenged three consecutive runner-up finishes from her freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons.
Andre claims SJU's fourth A-10 high jump indoor title in program history, joining Bernadette Speer (2000, 2001, 2002); Andre was tied with Speer for the program's high jump record (5' 8”) before jumping for 5' 9 1/4” on Sunday.
"Claudine showed great poise and reacted well under pressure," said Saint Joseph's head coach Melody O'Reilly. "She is a true competitor."
Andre also placed fourth in the long jump with a season-best mark of 18' 4 1/4” (5.59m) to earn five more points for the Crimson and Gray.
Bourdeau took home some hardware this weekend by claiming the silver medal in the 200m and the bronze medal in the 60m.
The junior flew to a second-place finish in the 200m finals on Sunday afternoon with a new collegiate-best time of 24.75; she went neck-to-neck with race champion Bethany Evankovich of Duquesne and finished just .05 seconds short of the title. Bourdeau ran for 24.93 in Saturday's preliminaries to own the second seed entering Sunday's finals.
Bourdeau also cruised to a third-place finish in the 60m finals on Sunday, clocking in with a new collegiate-best time of 7.63 for the bronze medal; the time was just .05 seconds off of the school record in the event, held by Andria Smythe (7.58). In Saturday's preliminaries, Bourdeau won the second heat in 7.68 to automatically qualify for Sunday's finals.
Sophomore Caroline Duffy earned a fourth-place finish in the 400m finals (56.62) on Sunday to earn five points for the Crimson and Gray. Duffy had clocked in with a new collegiate-best time of 56.57 in Saturday's preliminaries to own the fourth seed entering the finals.
With a time of 2:57.39, junior Lucy Harmon placed sixth in the 1000m finals on Sunday to earn three points; in Saturday's preliminaries, Harmon won the second heat in 2:57.64 to qualify for Sunday's finals as the sixth seed.
In a field of 18, senior Cassidy Weimer placed seventh in the mile, clocking in at 5:02.19 to earn two points for the Crimson and Gray; Weimer finished sixth in the second session, but Richmond's Colleen Carney dropped a 4:58 mile out of the first section to inch into the sixth spot in the final standings.
Sophomore Emily Bracken ran the 800m for 2:20.74 to place eighth in Sunday's finals, earning one point for the Crimson and Gray. Bracken had clocked in with a new collegiate-best time of 2:15.82 in Saturday's preliminaries to own the fifth seed entering the finals.
SJU's 4x400m relay of Bourdeau, junior Kelly Liebl, senior Steph Toland, and Duffy (3:54.90) crossed in sixth for three points while the DMR of Harmon, Toland, Bracken, and Weimer (12:04.25) and 4x800m relay of junior Sara Rankin, freshman Abigail Silva, sophomore Maggie Maguire, and Weimer (season-best 9:22.41) both placed eight, good for one point apiece; the 4x8's performance completes the trifecta of qualifying all three of SJU's relays for the upcoming ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Out of the non-scoring events, Toland finished 10th in the 500m (1:18.63), junior Elaine Estes placed 14th in the 5000m with a new collegiate-best time of 17:50.75, an improvement on her previous PR in the event by over 21 seconds, Andre finished 16th in the 60m hurdles (9.17), sophomore Emily Clayton finished 16th in her second collegiate pentathlon with a PR 2,997 points, which included a fourth-place finish in the high jump (5' 2 1/4”, 1.58m PR), and junior Lindsey Oremus placed 18th in the 3000m (10:18.73).
Also of note, Duffy just missed advancing to the 200m finals by .09 seconds, clocking in at 25.31 for 10th.
Of ECAC note, Andre (high jump) and Bourdeau (60m, 200m) recorded new seed times for the upcoming ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships with their PR performances. Duffy and SJU's DMR met the ECAC standards in their events but both own faster times from earlier in the season that will stand as their seed times.
Select Hawks will return to action at the Saturday Night Fastrack Last Chance Invitational this Saturday, February 24. The meet, to be held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y., will serve as a final opportunity for Hawks to either qualify for or improve their seed times for the upcoming ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, set for March 2-4 in Boston, Mass.
