FAIRFAX, Va. - Junior distance standouts John Walker and Zach Michon were remarkable and the Hawks were the only program to medal all three of their relays as the Saint Joseph's men's track and field squad raced the 2019 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at George Mason University's Field House this weekend. The Hawks accumulated 63 points to place seventh in a field of 10 teams.
Saint Joseph's earned two gold medals as the Distance Medley Relay claimed the title over La Salle and Michon won the mile. Walker (mile), Rory Houston (800m), and the 4x800m relay earned silver medals while Michon (3000m) and the 4x400m relay took home the bronze.
Senior Jack Daly got the call on the lead-off leg of the DMR on Saturday morning, filling in for a Hawk unable to race.
And at 6:20 p.m. on Saturday night, he didn't miss a beat.
"Jack put us right in it at the first pass (3:05.6), and I felt good about our chances," said head coach Mike Glavin. "Then Kris Edobi and Dylan Eddinger, running the 400m (50.3) and 800m (1:56.5) legs, respectively, gave John [Walker] the stick with that five-man group, and I was really excited. John's a tough runner who feeds off competition. The only thing we were waiting for with him was to re-find his explosive kick after upping his training."
Walker found it, running 59.0 over the last 400m to split 4:11.0 and guarantee the win as the group recorded an overall time of 10:03.62.
"The whole place was going crazy as the five anchors went at it," added Glavin. "It was really something to be part of. Those four guys won't soon forget that moment."
"Jack ran the best race I've ever seen him race," added Walker. "Kris flew around the track like he was an A-10 veteran, and Dylan ran with an edge. They were all working and hunting and that made me want to hunt, too. Those guys were inspiring to watch, running with heart and grit, and all of that makes track as great as it is! I just wanted to finish the business that they started and we did that...we won!"
That time stands as SJU's best DMR time of the season and will stand as the Hawks' updated seed time for next week's IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships.
On Sunday afternoon, Michon won the mile in a field of 20, crossing in an IC4A-qualifying time of 4:13.03 for the victory.
"The mile race was set up to be very tactical, and when we came through the first quarter, I knew that I had to break the field early so it was not left up to a kick," said Michon. "We came in very ambitious and hoping that I scored a lot of points for the team. I had my eyes on an A-10 title in the mile for a long time and it feels great to finally achieve this."
Michon defeated none other than Walker for the win as Michon's junior teammate took the silver in 4:14.89.
Together, the pair combined for 18 points.
Attempting the challenging mile/3000m combination that runs just two hours and 20 minutes apart, Michon excelled. After winning the mile at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, Michon earned the bronze in the 3000m at 2:05 p.m. The junior standout crossed in 8:28.82 for third in the 28-member field for six more points for the Crimson and Gray.
"After the mile, I was focused on recovering and getting ready for my next race," added Michon. "Coming back in the 3k, I thought I definitely belonged in the top three. The 3k is a very competitive event in the A-10 Conference, and it's a lot of fun to run alongside such strong competitors, as well as my teammates."
Houston turned in a second-place finish in the 800m in an IC4A-qualifying time of 1:53.97, just .89 seconds off from La Salle's Anthony Hawthorne (1:53.08). The only freshman in the finals, rookie Aidan Sauer added a seventh-place showing (1:57.81) as the pair combined for 10 points.
Saint Joseph's 4x800m relay of captain Eddinger (1:57.8), graduate student captain Barren McCoy (1:56.1), Walker (1:54.4), and Houston (1:56.4) crossed in a season-best, IC4A-qualifying time of 7:44.88 for second overall and eight points while the 4x400m relay of freshman Michael Welde (50.6), junior captain Justin Moscoe (51.0), junior Trae' Robinson (49.8), and freshman Michael Szwed (48.3) crossed in 3:19.93 for third overall and six points.
The Hawks earned five points out of the 500m as Szwed (IC4A-qualifying 1:04.72), the only freshman in the finals, and Robinson (1:07.58) placed fifth and eighth, respectively.
Of note out of the non-scoring performances, in addition to racing on a pair of top-two relays, Eddinger added a 10th-place showing in the 1000m preliminaries field of 22, crossing in a season-best time of 2:30.66 to just miss qualifying for the finals by .28 seconds. Fellow captain David Bryant finished 13th in the 60m preliminaries in 7.19. Sophomore Bobby Hastie took 11th in the 5000m (15:11.22 PR).
A trio of rookies raced strong in the preliminaries of their open events; Edobi placed 11th in the open 400m in 50.47 while Zach Smith finished 11th in the mile with the second-best freshman performance, crossing in 4:22.66. Welde went 14th in the 200m in 22.85.
Qualifying Hawks will next compete at the 2019 IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships, to be held at Boston University's Track and Tennis Center from Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3. A complete meet preview with SJU's line-ups will be made available later in the week at SJUHawks.com.
