Polk Wins Long Jump, Xavier Concludes Day One at BIG EAST Championships

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Sophomore Zachary Polk won the long jump on the opening day of the BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships to highlight a list of Xavier top performances. The two-day meet is being held at the newly opened Ocean Breeze Track and Field Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y.

Polk posted a distance of 7.18m to win the first individual BIG EAST title of his career. The Hilton Head, S.C., native also advanced to the finals in both the 60-meter (7.04) and 200-meter (22.24) dashes on Saturday.

"Zach works really hard," said head coach Ryan Orner. "He's very talented, but he puts in 100 percent every day so he deserves the win. It happened on his last jump, so it was exciting to watch him win it that way."

Russell Platt will join Polk in the finals of the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes. The junior won his 60-meter prelim section in a time of 6.96, while recording time of 22.12 in the 200-meter dash. Freshman Sean Farnan also advances in the 200-meter dash as he recorded a time of 22.05.

"We had some ups and downs on the men's side today," added Orner. "We fell short in two mid-distance events, but we did really well in the sprint events. Sean had a breakthrough race and we are excited to have three guys in the finals of the 200-meter dash."

On the women's side, Madeline Britton established a new school record in the 5,000-meter run. The sophomore posted a time of 16:57.23 to place eighth, shaving 12 seconds off her previous PR. Freshman Caroline Gosser posted a time of 17:22.22 to place 13th in the event.

"Maddie had a great day," said Orner. "We had two goals today for her, to score points and to get the school record - she accomplished both. It's so hard to score in the 5K against the nationally ranked BIG EAST competitors."

Freshman Kara Robinson set a new PR in the 60-meter hurdles, advancing to the finals on Saturday in a time of 9:01 - the fourth fastest time in the prelims.

In the women's 500-meter dash, Sydney Larkin advance to the finals by posting the third fastest time in the prelims - 1:14.88.

"We have a number of girls coming back to finals tomorrow in both the mid-distance events and sprints," said Orner. "We are in a good spot heading into the finals."

The women's distance medley relay team of Haley Jerabek, Caterina Karas, Kaitlyn Magrane and Meghan Vogel took fifth in a time of 12:02.37.

"I felt they competed really hard in the DMR, placing fifth to earn medals," said Orner. "That's never happened in this race for us, so that was excellent."

Karmen Auble picked up points for Xavier in the women's pentathlon, finishing sixth with a total of 2,811 points.

Saturday's events begin at 10:10 a.m. and conclude at 2:30 p.m. with the awards ceremony.

STANDINGS AFTER DAY ONE

Women
1. Marquette – 59.50
2. St. John's – 57
3. Villanova – 39.50
4. Georgetown – 20
5. Providence – 18
6. DePaul – 16
7. Butler – 15
8. Xavier – 8

Due to technical difficulties the full points and standings of the men's championship results will be provided later at www.bigeast.com

PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS

Some of the best photos from day one of the #BIGEASTtrack Championships! #LetsGoX
Posted by Xavier Track on Friday, February 26, 2016

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