RALEIGH / MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The East Carolina track & field team opened its outdoor season with athletes at the Raleigh Relays and adidas Trojan Challenge Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Six Pirates made their marks on the program top 10 lists on the weekend while seven earned individual victories and several others notched personal bests.
In Raleigh, Alex Sawyer kicked off the weekend with his 3:50.83 1,500m, good for sixth in program history, while Chase Osborne, who already owns the ECU record, ran 14:47.77 in the 5,000m which would also rank in the top 10 in program history.
Jared Harrell picked up where he left off from his Freshman of the Year campaign indoors with a 15.07m (49-5.5) outing in the triple jump, good for 10th in the program record book.
On the women’s side, Lindsay Yentz put herself into ninth in program history with her time of 2:12.77 in the 800m. Yentz, who holds the fifth fastest 1,500m time in ECU history also neared her PR with a 4:34.70 performance in the event.
“I thought for the first weekend of the outdoor season we performed pretty good,” said Director of Track & Field Curt Kraft. “We obviously have a lot of work to do, but as each weekend goes by, hopefully we will improve. Both teams competed with a lot of energy and with a lot of enthusiasm. Hopefully we have a great week of practice this week and get ready for our home meet – we always look forward to competing at home.”
Over in Mount Olive, seven Pirates found themselves atop the proverbial podium with individual victories. Jasmine Jenkins had perhaps the most impressive performance in her signature event. Jenkins fired her way into the ECU record books with the fourth-best hammer throw in program history with a distance of 59.82m.
Rileigh Cardin, Naadiya Faison, Rebekah Bergquist, Zach Willer, Conner O’Shea and Nick Willer all earned victories on the weekend as well.
Zach Willer and Conner O’Shea both led ECU sweeps in their respective events, the 800m and 5,000m.
In the 3,000m steeple, Nick Willer and Austin Mathews ran the fourth- and eighth-fastest times in program history in 9:18.96 and 9:33.83, respectively.
Up Next
The Pirates host the Bill Carson Invitational on Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1 at the Bate Foundation Track & Field Facility.
