The St. Thomas Aquinas College Track program opened up their season on Saturday at the Yale Season Opener in New Haven, CT. Junior, Mike Abelard ran a college best of 21.84 to take 1st place in the 200. On the Women's side sophomore Keeley Bateman took 4th in the mile with a time of 5:28.39.
Abelard's 21:84 currently hits the pre-qualifying standard to qualify for the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. He also took third place in his 60m heat with his time of 7.01 and followed up with a 7.02 in the finals to take 3rd. Sophomore, George Erazo took first place in the 400m with a time of 49.34 to open up his season. Classmate Frankie Colon took second in the triple jump with a leap of 40-08.25 feet. The men's 4x400m team of Abelard, Erazo, Colon,and freshman Alex Andre ran 3:23.48 in their 2011 debut.
After Bateman's impressive perfromance in the mile, she also competed in the 4x400m with freshmen Catherine Sandkuhl, Ashley Stokkeland, and Katie Gerlich who took 4th overall in a new school record time of 4:16.39. Other notable performances were those of Kaitlyn Mancini who took 11th overall in the 60m and Gina Funaro in the triple jump with a new school record of 31-11.25.
The Spartans jumped right back into action at the CTC Relay Meet at Yale today.