QU Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Soars to Second Place Finish at 2016 MAAC Championships

Sunday, May 8

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Quinnipiac University

MAAC Championships

QU Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Soars to Second Place Finish at 2016 MAAC Championships

5/8/2016 7:47:00 PM | Women's Outdoor Track & Field

Bobcats Post Program Record 158 Points Throughout the Two-Day Meet; QU Has Now Finished in Second in Three Straight MAAC Championships Dating Back to 2015 Outdoor Season

By: QU Sports Information

DAY TWO RESULTS

LAWRENCEVILLE, New Jersey – The Quinnipiac women's outdoor track and field team continued to make history on Sunday as the Bobcats finished the MAAC Championships in second place overall out of 10 teams in the two-day conference championship held on the campus of Rider University. Quinnipiac has now finished as the MAAC's runner-up in the last three conference championships dating back to the 2015 outdoor season. The Bobcats totaled 158 team points which easily represents a new program record at a conference championship, eclipsing the previous record of 127 set in 2015. Monmouth University claimed their third consecutive MAAC Championship as the Hawks compiled 228 points to take the victory.

"I am really proud of the job our team did today, to come away with another second place finish and to see us score a program record in points is amazing," said Quinnipiac head coach Carolyn Martin of the 29-point improvement from last year's MAAC Championships. "Our girls were all fighting to place throughout the whole weekend. We could see the buy-in from them and the determination all weekend long. It came down to a nail-biting finish between us and Rider for second but it validates how important every point we picked up was to our success."

2016 MAAC Championships Final Team Standings
Rank	Team	Points
1.	Monmouth	228
2.	*Quinnipiac*	*158*
3.	Rider	156.5
4.	Manhattan	109.5
5.	Iona	72
6.	Marist	33
7.	Saint Peter's	32
8.	Niagara	17
9.	Siena	7
10.	Canisius	6

One day after capturing the MAAC title in the hammer throw, freshman Carly Timpson (Narragansett, Rhode Island) finished her perfect weekend with a first place finish in the high jump as she went inch-for-inch against Rider's Daria Chadwick before eventually coming out on top with a jump of 1.65m. Timpson not only tied her personal-best but she also matched her own program record in the event. In just her first season with the Bobcats, the 2016 MAAC Indoor Co-Most Outstanding Field Performer has already picked up three MAAC titles as she won the hammer throw and high jump in the outdoor season, paired up with her weight throw title during the indoor campaign.

Quinnipiac's senior standout Shameal Samuels (Hartford, Connecticut) closed out her final MAAC Championship meet with a perfect three-for-three sweep across the two-day meet. Samuels started with a convincing victory in the 200m dash as she clocked in at 24.26 seconds to beat the second place finisher by 0.96 seconds. The 200m title gives Samuels back-to-back first place finishes in 2015-16 at the MAAC Championships.

Samuels' impressive day continued in the 4x400m relay as the Bobcats claimed the MAAC title for the first time in program history. A year after placing second in the event, Quinnipiac busted through with the first place finish as Samuels teamed up with Marlo Wehrer (Pequannock, New Jersey), Kristen Ulrich (Clark, New Jersey) and Nia Baker (Brooklyn, New York) to clock in with an outdoor program record time of 3:48.95. After finishing second to Monmouth in 2015, the Bobcats bested the Hawks by a wide margin of more than five seconds.

2016 MAAC Championships Individual Winners
Event	Athlete	Team	Performance
Javelin Throw	Faith Blamon	MON	43.99m
Hammer Throw	Carly Timpson	QU	53.75m
Long Jump	Ellinor Persson	MAN	5.82m
3000m Steeplechase	Jessica Scheriff	ION	10:45.25
10,000m	Nicolette Mateescu	RID	37:24.50
Triple Jump	Ellinor Persson	MAN	11.50m
Shot Put	Ashley Berry	RID	12.86m
Pole Vault	Marissa Robbins	MAN	3.50m
High Jump	Carly Timpson	QU	1.65m
4x100m	Quinnipiac	QU	47.34
1500m	Kaleigh Roberts	QU	4:33.29
100m Hurdles	Andrea Olsen	MON	14.00
400m	Nia Baker	QU	56.82
Discus Throw	Ashley Berry	RID	44.02m
100m	Paige Chapman	MAN	12.10
800m	Tionna Garner	MON	2:09.98
400m Hurdles	Andrea Olsen	MON	1:00.69
200m	Shameal Samuels	QU	24.26
5000m	Tara Jameson	ION	16:30.65
4x800m	Monmouth	MON	9:03.17
4x400m	Quinnipiac	QU	3:48.95

The final appearance for Samuels on the day came in a dramatic 4x100m relay as the Bobcats went back-to-back, defending their 2015 MAAC title with another first place finish on Sunday. This time Samuels joined in with Francine Jacque (Port-au-Prince, Haiti), Alea Simons (Piscataway, New Jersey) and Jessica Lee (Montgomery, New Jersey) as the foursome combined to cross the line in 47.34 seconds to claim first place over Monmouth (48.30 seconds).

The banner year for Kaleigh Roberts (Higganum, Connecticut) continues as the MAAC's One Mile and 3000m champion during the indoor season was back at it again on Sunday as she overcame a late charging Monmouth runner to score the victory in the 1500m with a time of 4:33.29. In just her sophomore season, Roberts has picked up three first place finishes in the indoor and outdoor season combined after going without a victory in her 2014-15 freshman campaign.

The seventh and final champion for the Bobcats at the MAAC Championships came in the 400m as Baker scored the first individual event victory of her collegiate career in her senior season, clocking in at 56.82 seconds to easily top the field in her signature event. With a previous career-best finish of third at the MAAC Championships, Baker improved steadily over her four-year career and came through with her first event victory at a conference championship meet.

A scorn of Bobcats filled the final results in the 200m dash as four Quinnipiac sprinters earned points in the team standings. Combined with Samuels' victory in the 200m, Jacque took third place with a personal-best time of 25.33 seconds. Simons posted a personal-best for the second straight day as she timed in at 25.76 seconds to earn her a fifth place result. Finally, Lee earned an eighth place finish with a time of 26.28 seconds. In all, the Bobcats earned 21 total team points in the 200m, the most total points accumulated by Quinnipiac in any single-event throughout the MAAC Championships.

Eight big points came the way of the Bobcats in the 4x800m relay event as Roberts, Alyson Caron (Andover, New Jersey), Cori Reid (Old Saybrook, Connecticut) and Medinah Nabadduka (Windsor, Connecticut) teamed up for the second place finish with a time of 9:17.21. The strong showing from the Bobcats is an improvement on last year's third place finish in the event while it also marks the fourth straight season in which Quinnipiac has placed in the top three at a conference championship meet in the 4x800m relay.

Lee nearly took down her first career MAAC title in the 100m hurdles as the thrilling sprint to the finish between her and Andrea Olsen of Monmouth ended with Lee in second place. Still a career-best finish at the MAAC Outdoor Championships for the sophomore, Lee's time of 14.01 seconds was just 0.01 second behind Olsen's time of 14 seconds. The duo outkicked the remainder of the field by a considerable margin as Lee still earned eight points for the Bobcats in the team standings.

The 100m featured multiple Bobcats as Simons and Bonnie Pisciotta (Lindenhurst, New York) earned second and seventh place finishes, respectively. For Simons, the second place finish marks just the second time in her career that she has placed at the MAAC Outdoor Championships while she also improves significantly on her sixth place finish from a year ago as she clocked in at 12.18 seconds to record a new personal-best for the second straight day. Pisciotta impressed with her career-best finish at the MAAC Championships with a time of 12.54 seconds.

It was a career afternoon for both of the Bobcats' 400m hurdles competitors as Wehrer and Christina Barbaro (Elk Township, New Jersey) each tallied new personal-best times on the way to placing third and sixth, respectively, in their signature events. After both picking up new PR's in the preliminary round on Saturday, the duo established new personal-bests for the second straight day as Wehrer timed in at 1:01.60 while Barbaro finished in 1:04.07.

Ulrich improved once again in the 400m at the MAAC Championships as she earned a career-best third place finish with a time of 57.68 seconds. Ulrich was legged out by Antoniette Isekenegbe of Monmouth (57.65) by only 0.03 seconds but the senior Bobcat still improved on her previous-best finish of fourth in the 400m from 2015.

A program-first came in the discus throw as Mackenzie Merkel (Hillsdale, New Jersey) posted 35.11m to earn a sixth place finish, becoming the first Bobcat in program history to place at a conference championship in the discus throw event. Merkel combined her discus throw points with an eighth place finish in the shot put as she tallied a throw of 11.51m.

Two Bobcats put together solid showings in the 800m finals as Caron and Reid teamed up to finish in fifth and sixth place, respectively. Caron clocked in at 2:14.60 while Reid crossed the line in 2:15.09. For both Caron and Reid, this marked the first time they have placed in the MAAC Outdoor Championships.

Among the other events that saw the Bobcats earn points in included the triple jump wherein Brittany Grabill (Lisbon, Connecticut) and Pisciotta combined for three points with seventh and eighth place finishes, respectively. Grabill destroyed her previous personal-best as she recorded a jump of 10.43m to earn her points for the first time in her career at the MAAC Championships. Pisciotta followed with a jump of 10.42m to earn her eighth place.

Emily Wolff (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) wrapped up the scoring for the Bobcats with her seventh place finish in the 5000m with a time of 17:41.31.

Quinnipiac wraps up another successful MAAC Championship meet and now move on to the New England Championships held from May 13-14 on the campus of Southern Connecticut State and the ECAC Championships held from May 14-15 on the campus of Princeton University.