BY JONATHAN PRESSMAN ’14
Senior Staff Writer

School records were shattered, events were dominated by F&M individuals, and a jubilant disposition ensued during the track & field teams’ opening meet of the 2012-13 season.

F&M’s underclassmen put together an impressive showing, as Rebecca Swisher ’16 began her college career in poised form, breaking the F&M women’s pole vault school record with a jump of 11 feet. Also competing in the pole vault for F&M was Sylvia Zohrabian ’13, who recorded a jump of 10 feet, a personal best for the senior.

Senior Kristen Marinaccio ’13 found her way into the record books twice on the day, first with a leap of 16 feet, 8.5 inches in the long jump, and shortly after with a 300-meter time of 44.13 seconds.

Olivia Bendit ’16 won her heats in both the 60 and 300-meter dashes, finishing in 8.60 seconds and 44.80 seconds.

One the men’s side, Taaj Amin ’15 raced to a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash, posting a time of 7.15 seconds, just .02 seconds faster than Villanova’s Donald Urschel. Amin’s performance was achieved in his first-ever collegiate race and the sophomore was the only F&M male to win his event.

Vincent Acosta ’15 and Bob McCarron ’15 turned in strong results in the shot put, taking fourth and seventh places respectively, and qualifying themselves for the Centennial Conference Championship meet.

Brad Krell ’16, Evan Friend ’16 and Leo Generali ’15 all competed in the 500-meter run, finishing the race separated by a gap of less than two seconds.

In the high jump, Kevin Hines ’13 cleared five feet, seven inches, a personal best.

Senior captain and all-American Nils Michaelis ’13 was sidelined with an injury, but is expected to return when the Diplomats open up the New Year at Kutztown University on Jan. 11.

With a promising underclass, both the men’s and women’s teams will look to improve on last year’s championship finishes, and will be joined by members of the cross-country team for winter break training, beginning on Jan. 6.

Questions? Email Jonathan at jpressman@fandm.edu.

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By TCR