WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Navy track and field team posted a pair of thrilling victories at the Army-Navy Outdoor Star Meet presented by USAA on Saturday in West Point, N.Y. The men's team, who notched their seventh consecutive victory over their rivals, edged out Army, 102-101, while the women's team won 107-96. The Navy women's team has now won four consecutive outdoor meets against Army, nine of the last 10, and 12 of the last 14.
"I am happy for our team," Director of Navy Track and Field Jamie Cook said after the meet. "They competed hard and came away with two stars. We were able to set a lot of PRs and post a lot of top-10 times on the day. It was a really good day for Navy track and field."
On the day, Navy student-athletes set three new school records, while notching eight additional times/marks that rank in the school's all-time top-10. Both the men's and women's 4x100-meter relay teams set new school records, while plebe Audrey Fernandez (South Hill, Wash.) broke the school record in the triple jump.
The women's 4x100m relay team of Amanda Henson (West Barnstable, Mass.), Chelsey Edwards (Schertz, Texas), Regine Tugade (Dededo, Guam), and Amanda Agana (Fayetteville, Ark.) broke the Navy record with a 46.12 in the event, trimming over a half a second off of the previous best time. The men's 4x100m team of Aaron Watson (Union City, Mich.), Devin Enslen (Alamogordo, N.M.), Demetrius Lanier (Palm Coast, Fla.), and Evan Lexo (Groton, Mass.) set the new school mark by one-hundredth of a second, posting a 40.45 in the race for the new Mid record. Fernandez posted a jump of 12.26m (40-02.75) to break the previous school record by six-hundreds of a meter.
In addition to the school records broken, the Midshipmen also notched eight top-10 performances in program history. Edwards clocked a 24.68 in the 200m dash, which ranks third all-time in school history and marks the plebes' second top-10 time of the year. The 4x400m relay team of Brittany Burg (Gasport, N.Y.), Edwards, Christina Quigley (Lorton, Va.), and Agana notched the fifth fastest time in school history of 3:47.34. Burg also crossed the finish line in the 400m hurdles with a 1:00.56, which is the sixth fastest time at Navy. Henson's 12.01 in the 100m dash tied for the ninth fastest. Senior captain Ashanti Curry (Jacksonville, N.C.) posted a throw of 14.18m (46-06.25) in the shot put to notch the sixth best throw in Navy history, while Evelyn Berecz (Downington, Pa.) joined Fernandez in the triple jump record book with the 10th best performance of 11.88m (38-11.75).
Kordell Williams (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Clayton Thompson (Corpus Christi, Texas) posted the second and fourth all-time performances in the 110m hurdles. K. Williams notched a 14.18 for second all-time, while Thompson was just shy of that time with a 14.22, which was good enough for fourth.
The Midshipmen scored first place points in 10 events on the women's side, while earning max points in seven different events. Navy claimed the 800m run, 400m hurdles, and high jump, while finishing 1-2 in the 400m dash, pole vault, triple jump, discus, and javelin. The Midshipmen also swept the relays.
Burg claimed the 400m dash with a time of 56.25, while Savada Robinson (Oxford, Conn.) clocked a 58.09 to finish in second place. Agana won the 800m run with a 2:13.19. Burg's top-10 performance in the 400m hurdles earned the captain first place in the event.
Julia Speranzo (Springfield, Va.) notched recorded a height of 1.62m (5-03.75) to win the high jump, while Charlene Kearns (Rochester, N.Y.) and Kaitlyn Stafford (Friendswood, Texas) finished back-to-back atop the podium in the pole vault with jumps of 3.70m (12-01.50) and 3.60m (11-09.75), respectively. The horizontal jumps saw Fernandez and Berecz claim first and second in the triple jump.
In the discus, Rachel Duncavage (League City, Texas) and Jahna Alleyne (York, Pa.) claimed first and second with distances of 43.98m (144-03) and 43.49m (142-08). Navy women's basketball standout Sophie Gatzounas (South Hadley, Mass.) won the javelin in her first track and field meet of the season, throwing for a distance of 42.93m (140-10), while Sarah Morris (Mobile, Ala.) came in second with a distance of 41.95m (137-07).
The men's track and field team saw student-athletes claim first place in eight different events, while earning top points in four events.
The meet was close the entire day for the men's team, but the pivotal moment came in the 5,000m run. Cory Donley(Salina, Kan.) of Navy lost the lead and then got it back on the final straightaway passing Ben Petrella of Army in the final 10 meters to win. Donley crossed the finish line with a time of 14:22.73 to edge Petrella by one-hundredth of a second.
In addition to Donley, Enslen won the 200m dash with a time of 21.21, edging out Lanier who claimed second with a time of 21.27. K. Williams and Thompson were 1-2 in the 110m hurdles with their top-10 performances, while Cameron Hurd(Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) edged out Thompson (53.68) in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.50. Kevin Murray(Wilmington, Del.) and Michael Karls (Festus, Mo.) were 1-2 in the 3,000m steeple chase with times of 9:29.17 and 9:30.32, respectively.
Cedric Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) won the long jump and the triple jump with distances of 7.03m (23-00.75) in the long jump and 14.95m (49-00.75) in the triple. John Barber (Sugar Land, Texas) claimed first place in the shot put with a distance of 17.10m (56-01.25).
With the wins, Army and Navy are tied at 10 in the overall standings after 20 star competitions. As a whole, the Mids have won six of the last seven stars after falling behind 0-5-2 to start the year with four competitions left: men's and women's Lacrosse, men's tennis, and baseball.