WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State University men's and women's track and field are set to host the 2024 Jerry Gravel Classic from Alumni Field and the Jerry Gravel Track on Saturday, April 13. Field events will open the meet beginning at 10:00 A.M. followed by running events at noon.
Competing Teams
Westfield State will be joined by Eastern Connecticut, Mount Holyoke, Salve Regina, UMass Dartmouth, Utica College, and Wheaton College.
Women's Track and Field
Junior Molly Kennedy (West Springfield, Mass.) and sophomore Shea Hamel (Longmeadow, Mass.) hold the top-two fastest seed times in the 1500 entering Saturday with Kennedy posting a season-best time of 4:54.00, ahead of Hamel who checks in at 4:56.00. Jade Dening of Utica is the closest competitor to the two with a time 4:59.84.
Sophomore Eliza Lee (Walpole, Mass.) will be a notable athlete to watch for the Owls as she figures to push for the top spot in a trio of events. Lee currently holds the second longest leap in the long jump at 5.25m, trailing only Nora Devitt of Utica who owns a 5.56m leap.
Lee is also in the top three of seeding in the triple jump (10.98m) and the 400 (1:03.45) with Mackenzie Mix of Utica leading the pack in the event with a sub one-minute time of 59.51 seconds.
The women's 100-meter dash will boast a pair of Owls sprinters within the top three in seed times as both Paige Moroney (Sterling, Mass.) and Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass.) hold personal-best season marks of 12.75 seconds, only seven one-hundredths of a second behind Saige Kirkland of Eastern Connecticut. Parker also figures to be in contention for the 200m top mark with a current seed time of 27.00 seconds which trails only Mix from Utica who will be one of the Owls toughest competitors on the day.
Men's Track and Field
After winning the javelin at last week's Coast Guard Invite, Johnny Ware (Wilmington, Mass.) will be vying for another top performance this Saturday. Ware's toss of 53.72m last weekend vaulted him into third overall on the performance list for athletes in the event. Teammate Shane Clark (Bellows Falls, Vt.) is the current favorite in the event, launching a 57.77m toss to top the charts. Connor Richard of UMass Dartmouth is sandwiched between Clark and Ware on the list, posting a throw of 55.08m.
Sophomore Gordon Johnson (Hanson, Mass.) is the current frontrunner in the 800m, with his personal-best time of 1:56.86 giving him a slight edge over John Ziegler (1:57.12) of UMass Dartmouth in what shapes up to be one of the tightest finishes of the day.
Another photo finish will come in the men's 100-meter dash with Jordan Stallworth in contention for the top spot as his 11.17 second-finish at last week's Coast Guard Invite places him second overall out of 23 runners in two scheduled heats tomorrow. Utica College's Ethan Kain is the projected top finisher, but is only six one-hundredths of a second ahead of Stallworth in seed time.
First-year distance runner Nathan Sylven (Wrentham, Mass.) currently owns the second-fastest seed time in the 5000 as his time of 15:57.61 is one of two sub 16-minute times, joining Bennett Melita of Utica who sits as the favorite, pacing the field with a time of 15:13.92.
Weather Forecast
Tomorrow's forecast calls for cloudy skies with a chance for a scattered, brief shower and a high of 53 degrees with winds gusting to the west at about 16mph.
Live Coverage
Follow along throughout all of the action as video and live results will be available at WestfieldStateOwls.com.