ACC Track And Field Championship Highlighted By BC's King In The 800

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the Boston College men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Charlottesville, Va. The women’s team finished the weekend with 26 points, which is the third most in the program’s history at the conference meet. The men’s team ended with four points, which was also the team’s third most points at the ACC Championship.

The women’s team was led by graduate student Caroline King, who medaled in the 800-meter run on Saturday. It was the third straight year that she medaled in the 800-meter at this meet. King led the initial break from the start line, and into the backstretch, however, North Carolina’s Tasha Stanley and Florida State’s Violah Lagat passed her. King pushed through the final turn to pass Lagat, and finished the race in second place. The silver medalist finished with her personal best time of 2:04.11.

Freshman distance runner Liv Westphal ran well in her inaugural ACC Championship. After finishing seventh in the preliminary 1,500-meter run, the France native finished the finals in fourth place with a time of 4:32.70. Madeline Wallace also did well in the 1,500-meter race with a seventh place finish. The graduate student had a time of 4:33.94.

Senior Kelsey Huckins was the other Eagle to add points for her team. The Westmoreland, N.H. native took sixth place in the discus contest, throwing her fifth attempt for 46.58 meters.

Hope Krause led the women’s five-kilometer group to an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference qualifier. The graduate student finished in 11th place for the Eagles with a time of 17:02.71. Heather Garcia, who ended the race with a time of 17:29.43 for a 17th place finish, followed. The contingent finished with the 17:35.11 time of Allison Stasiuk, the 18:13.27 time of Elizabeth Hynes and the 18:39.67 time of Alanna Poretta.

Taylor Aizenstadt looked strong in the high jump pit competition. The junior cleared 1.65 meters for her top attempt of the day. The women’s team also saw a solid performance from Kim McDonagh in the long jump competition. The freshman finished with a jump of 4.95 meters.

The men’s team didn’t have quite as much success in its field. There were some quality performances for the team, however. The men’s 4x400 meter relay team finished in third place for the first section. The team competed at a strong pace to finish in 3:16.72. The team consisted of Brian Smith, who led off, Connor O’Neill,  Jack Hennessy, and Kellen MacDonald.

The 5,000-meter run saw BC’s largest pool of competitors. Louis Serafini was the top performer for the Eagles with a New England standard of 14:44.69, which was good for a 12th-place finish. This beat his previous season best by 16 seconds. Freshman Richard Lucas followed with a time of 15:43.04, and the team also saw important finishes for Jack Shannon (15:49.44) and Brian Wolff (16:21.62).

The second attempt for long jump competitor Matthew Asetula went for a mark of 6.94 meters, while Jon Bogosian cleared 1.95 meters in the high jump pit.

The women’s team finished in 11th place, while the men’s team ended up in 12th place. In the women’s standings, Clemson led the way in the women’s division with a point total of 185. The next closest team was Virginia with 100 points. Virginia Tech earned the top spot in the men’s division with 153.5 point to beat out Florida State’s 149.