Harden, Ruggieri shine at SoCon Championships

Both the women’s and men’s track teams posted solid performances at the SoCon outdoor championships last weekend, dominating the long-distance events in Statesboro, GA. The men brought home a fifth-place finish while the women earned the ninth spot in a competitive field.

Both teams boasted first-place finishers in the 10,000 meters, the longest race in outdoor track. Danielle Ruggieri ’11 took the gold with a time of 37:45.13, clearing her nearest competitor by over 18 seconds. Emily King ’11 crossed the line in sixth for her scoring contribution to the Wildcats.

Lance Harden ’09 also cleaned out his championship heat with a personal best performance of 31:27.20. Behind him, Ryan Hopkins ’12 and Greg Marcil ’11 snatched the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, giving the men’s team a further scoring boost.
In the 5K, Harden again placed highest for the ’Cats, taking the conference silver, while Charlie Schmitt ’11 and Tom Divinnie ’10 rounded off the team’s domination of the heat with third and sixth place finish, respectively. Ruggieri provided the women’s squad support in the race as well, scoring points from fourth place with a time of 18:09.38.

The 1500 meter race also witnessed another Davidson runner in the scoring column, as Alex Hoyt ’09 grabbed a fourth-place finish. Hoyt was plagued by ankle problems earlier in the year, and despite the challenges, concluded his collegiate career with a solid sub-four time of 3:57.21

Strong showings in the field events provided the final scoring for the teams’ resumes. Kittery Neale ’09 launched a discus throw of 39.39 meters to earn her the fourth-place position.

Neale also placed tenth in the shot put and ninth in the javelin events. Her classmate Will Funderburg ’09 found a fifth-place finish in the shot put, firing his best shot put throw of the season at 14.68 meters. He also took eighth in the discus throw.

With the performances of Ruggieri, King and Neale, the women’s team totaled 23 points over the weekend. Their ninth-place showing put them just four points behind the Citadel, showing positive signs for upward mobility in the coming years.

The women’s team will look for its top finishers this year to carry the torch. While the ’Cats will miss the competitiveness of sprinters Kim Colley ’09 and Bea Bush ’09 and triple jumper Kennesia Martin ’09, they will gain an edge from Sarah Cline ’11, who grabbed the 11th spot in the 1500 this year. Lauren Childs ’11 hung in the middle of the pack during the 3000-meter steeplechase, picking up ninth, and is positioned for a scoring spot in the future.

The men’s team notched an even higher overall score at the SoCon Championships, with 63 points. Next year, rivals Citadel and Samford will be ripe for the picking, as they led the ’Cats by only 3.5 and 7 points, respectively.

Leading the future charge will be Taylor Martin ’12, whose 51.48-second performance in the 400 garnered him an eighth-place finish in his first conference championship race. Peter Bruton ’10 will follow Hoyt’s example in the 1500 after taking seventh this year with a time of 3:59.38.

Ryan Hopkins ’12 will complement the men’s strong 5000 team, building off his seventh-place spot just behind Divinnie. Divinnie’s seventh-place showing in the 10K along with Blake Evitt’s ’10 fifth in the 3000 steeplechase will add experience to the distance squad. The men’s 4x100 and 4x400 relays also show significant promise, coming in fifth and seventh, respectively.

From commendable performances in distance heats as well as on the field, both teams will seek more depth in the shorter events where they lost ground to larger programs. With the majority of both squads returning, next year will hopefully provide more of the same.