Quinn Hits NCAA Provisional Mark, Women’s Track & Field Places Second at Elm City Challenge
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (December 2, 2017) – In the opening meet of her senior season, Emily Quinn (West Bridgewater, Mass.) of the Franklin Pierce University women's track & field team notched her first career NCAA Championship provisional qualifying mark on Saturday, and she established a new school record in the weight throw in the process. Junior Lilian Baah (Danielson, Conn.) also established a new program record, in the triple jump, as the Ravens finished second at the season-opening Elm City Challenge, hosted by Southern Connecticut State.
Franklin Pierce finished the meet with 91 points. Host SCSU piled up 149 points to come away with the victory by a wide margin, while New Haven (84 points) finished behind the Ravens in third.
Quinn's top heave in the weight throw was 17.46 meters, which was good for a second-place finish and earned her team eight points. Quinn broke her own school record in the event, but shattered it by just over 1.50 meters. It also marked the first time in her career she met an NCAA provisional qualifying standard.
Baah's record-breaking outing came in the triple jump, which she won to pick up 10 points, by posting a mark of 11.53 meters. She also broke her own program record, but did so by a much more modest margin (0.05m).
Sophomore Katey Comstock (Windsor, Vt.) -- who knows a thing or two about breaking records herself, after last year's freshman campaign -- was the only other Raven to score in field events on Saturday. She chalked up six points with a fourth-place finish in the shot put, by posting a mark of 12.20 meters.
The rest of Franklin Pierce's scoring came on the track, with most of the damage coming in the mile and the 3000 meters. In the mile, senior Natalie Davies (Ware, Mass.) scored eight points in second place (5:37.83), sophomore Rebecca Zylak (Goffstown, N.H.) scored six points in third place (5:38.14), freshman Marissa Farago (Salisbury, Mass.) scored four points in fourth place (5:40.65), and sophomore Julia Cormier (Northwood, N.H.) scored two points in fifth place (5:44.66). Meanwhile the same four all scored at the longer, 3000-meter distance as well: Farago went for eight points in second (11:24.05), Cormier for four points in fourth (11:46.40), Davies for two points in fifth (11:50.21) and Zylak for one point in sixth (11:53.69).
Two Raven individuals scored at shorter distances on Saturday, as a pair of freshmen, Alyssa Harris (Billerica, Mass.) and Megan Holland (Clermont, Fla.) posted a point apiece with sixth-place finishes. Harris turned in a time of 26.29 seconds in the 200-meter dash, while Holland put together a run of 2:36.41 in the 800 meters.
Franklin Pierce also picked up two points with a ninth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay, where the Ravens ran a 4:30.85.
The Ravens return to the track on Saturday, Dec. 9, when they wrap up the semester at the PSU Winter Classic, hosted by Plymouth State, in Plymouth, N.H.
For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce track and field apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).