BETHLEHEM, PA – At long last, the Susquehanna women's track and field team have their first-ever outdoor Landmark championship, using four victories on day two Sunday and many finishes near the top of the leaderboard to capture the league crown. The women, who led after six events Saturday with 65 points and one event win, were aided by performances that, according to head coach
Ethan Senecal, exceeded expectations to put them over the top with 211.5 points, putting them 21.5 points ahead of second-place and host Moravian.
Remi Acord was named the Women's Field Athlete of the Meet, while head coach Senecal and his staff were honored with Coach Staff of the Year.
Remi Acord, who won the long jump Saturday with a conference championship record 5.98m, swept the horizontal jumps with her victory in the triple jump at 11.60m. She was complimented by
Hannah Alderfer's fourth-place finish of 10.80m, which stands ninth all-time, and
Julia Acevedo finishing fifth at 10.70m. Susquehanna also picked up a series of clutch points in the high jump, with
Jenna Horning setting a new PR at 1.49m for fifth place. Acord picked up two more points for SU with a seventh-place finish at 1.44m, a new personal best, while
Julia Acevedo tied for eighth at 1.39m to earn a half point.
Chloe Yoder, who also set a new championship meet record on Saturday with her 14.32 preliminary time in the 100-meter hurdles, heightened that standard Sunday at 14.25 in the finals, defending her league title and leading a top three sweep for the River Hawks. Alderfer finished second with a time of 15.17, while
Alayna Krempa took third at 15.71. Yoder's day was far from over, sweeping the hurdles events when she topped the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best 1:05.48. Acevedo also set a PR in the 400H with a sixth-place finish at 1:11.03. Krempa, Alderfer, and Yoder took the track again for the 200-meter finals, with Krempa taking bronze with a personal-best 25.65 that stands third all-time. Alderfer took sixth at 26.42, while Yoder picked up a point for eighth place at 27.24.
Maggie Boyer captured gold in the hammer throw with her second release that measured 42.01m, then placed second in the shot put when her final attempt reached 11.46m. Her fourth-place finish in Saturday's discus throw at 34.84m was good for sixth all-time
More feats were met in the mid-distance and distance categories, where
Kallan Carter set a new personal best in the 800 at 2:19.92 for third place, hitting an AARTFC qualifying mark and posting the fifth-best time in school history. She hit the podium again along with
Emma Myers in the 5K, where Myers placed fourth with a time of 18:57.28 and Carter fifth at 18:57.65. Senior
Meghan McDonald set a one-minute PR in the 3K steeplechase for sixth place at 12:33.36.
The relays also played factor, as the 4x100 team of
Kelly Loughlin, Acord,
Addison Yaukey, and
Alexa Rine took second with a time of 49.20. With the conference championship clinched heading into the final event, the 4x400 squad of Rine,
Ashley Newman,
Caitlyn Kuhn, and
Liza Levin picked up three points with a sixth-place finish at 4:17.08.
The River Hawks' triumph marked the first-ever women's outdoor track and field conference title in school history, as Moravian's 15-year reign on the women's side came to an end. The Greyhounds had won every women's Landmark outdoor championship since the inaugural championships in 2008, save the 2020 outdoor season that was canceled due to the pandemic. With February's Landmark indoor championship, Susquehanna now holds the distinction of sweeping the indoor and outdoor titles in the same year.
Their season is far from over, as the River Hawks have two weeks to prepare to host the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Championship Wednesday, May 17 through Thursday, May 18.
