CENTER VALLEY, PA-Led by Justine Elardo’s 100 hurdles victory, the Georgian Court University Track & Field team amassed 66.5 points to finish 4th out of 17 teams at Saturday's Collegiate Track Conference Championships, hosted by DeSales University.
Elardo’s school-record time of 15.24 was just enough to edge Rowan University’s Tiffany Chamberlain, who was credited with the same time.
“Justine ran a tremendous race in the hurdles to win. She came in as the 6th seed, improved her best time of the season by almost half a second and then showed she can win the close ones by keeping her poise and fighting all the way to the tape,” said Head Coach Brett Harvey.
Elardo also notched a 7th place finish in the 400 hurdles and ran a terrific 3rd leg on the Lions 8th place 4x400 relay.
“The 400 hurdles was very disappointing for Justine, but I think it shows a lot about her that she came back an hour later and ran a very determined leg on our 4x400,” added Harvey.
Also having fine showings for the Lions were Amy Berry (pictured), who uncorked a school record 110-7 throw in the javelin to move from 7th to 2nd on her final throw of the competition. “Amy has only been throwing the javelin for about 6 weeks; the progress she has made is incredible, “ said Harvey.
The Lions' throwers had a great overall competition as Christine Gorczyca also scored in the javelin with an 8th place finish while in the shot put the Lions put together a 3-4 showing behind Lisa Stuto and Alyssa Hudgins. Hudgins also uncorked a mammoth 142-11 foot throw in the hammer to take 4th in that event. Nicole Kalinowski took 8th in a personal best 114-04.
On the throwers Harvey said, “The throws ladies did a terrific job and Coach Napoli did a really good job getting them ready to compete this weekend. They have had a great season so far.”
Several Lions notched 4th place finishes, including: Allison Landry (3,000m steeplechase), Skye Thompson (pole vault), Lauren Calorel (high jump), and the 4x800 relay team of Landry, Heather Miara, Cynthia Cuiule and Krystal Belcher. The relay team also broke the school record by 15 seconds.
Belcher also notched an 8th place finish in the 800m in a school record time of 2:28.79. Justine Berger finished 7th in the women’s 5000m while Thompson and Berry combined to take the 7th and 8th spots in the long jump.
The 4x400 relay of Calorel, Erin Frye, Elardo and Melissa Parato broke the school record with a time of 4:20.90 for an 8th place finish.
The Lions will compete this Thursday at the Penn Relays with NCAA Qualifier Lauren Calorel (high jump), Stuto and Hudgins (shot put) and the 4x400 relay of Calorel, Frye, Elardo and Belcher participating.
