Weiss breaks school record, Towson takes second

By: Jordan Cope, Staff Writer

Towson finished second in the Bucknell Team Challenge on Saturday at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The Tigers finished with a total of 98 points behind the host Bison (195) in the eight-team field.

“It was really big for us. Every point counted,” Head Coach Roger Erricker said. “It just reinforces to everyone on the team that you have to fight for every single point.”

Freshman thrower Taylor Weiss highlighted the meet, setting a school record in the discus event with a throw of 138 feet, 8 inches.

Weiss’ throw beat Shannel Shivers’ record of 138’6”, which was set in 2010.

“When we recruited her, we knew how good she was,” Erricker said. “She is a wonderful athlete and great to coach.”

Along with the record-breaking throw from Weiss, the Tigers won the 4×100-meter relay and recorded 17 top 5 finishes.

Juniors Kaitlyn Davis and Kelsey Fiddes, sophomore Zanae Freeland and freshman Brittany Shields won the 4X100-meter relay and qualified for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a combined time of 47.26 seconds.

The 4×400-meter relay team, comprised of Davis, sophomore Amanda Famularo, senior Emily Wenger and Freeland, also qualified for ECAC’s with a second-place finish and a combined time of 3:50.48.

“ECAC’s is one meet we always look forward to because it’s even better and new competition,” Wenger said. “You have to qualify to go so to get that far after working all season long is a great feeling.”

Wenger also qualified for ECAC’s in the 400-meter hurdle after posting a fourth-place finish and recording a time of 1:02.11.

“To finally have a day when the weather was good was huge, especially for Emily,” Erricker said. “In talking with her, she had been questioning and down on her performances all spring, and I told her to just wait until we get some good weather, it will come through, and it did.”

Sophomore sprinter Megan Knoblock, Weiss and junior high jumper Emerald Vickers all placed second in their respective events for Towson.

Knoblock was the runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:47.80, Weiss placed second in the discus event with her throw of 138’08” and Vickers just missed finishing in first-place in the high jump with a height of 5’5.”

“Expect to see Emerald Vickers qualifying for ECAC’s next weekend,” junior captain Katelynn Williams said. “She needs to jump a 5’7”.

Weiss and Vickers were not the only Tigers to record top five finishes in field events. Junior multi-event performer Ashleigh Stallings and junior hurdler and jumper Wilhelmina Austin finished third in their respective events.

Junior pole vaulter Maggie Rampolla ended up fourth in the pole vault.

“The weather was finally great which was seriously so amazing,” Rampolla said. “But our bus broke down on the way there so we wound up being super late, so as good as the weather was we didn’t get to take too much advantage of it.”

Next weekend, Towson will send a select number of student athletes to the Penn Relays on April 23-24, while the rest of the squad will head to the Delaware Classic on Saturday April 25 at Stuart and Suzanne Grant Stadium.

“That meet is some of the best competition around, so it’s awesome to just be in that environment,” Rampolla said. “It’s a huge meet, it’s nuts, it’s awesome, it’s such a good experience.”

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