Women's Track and Field Shines at Pratt Invitational, Sweeps Home Double Dual

QUEENS, N.Y. — The Pratt Institute women's track and field team put on a dominant performance while hosting the Cannoneer Duals and Pratt Invitational on Saturday, sweeping its dual meet matchups before several athletes recorded top finishes and personal bests in the day's main event.

Pratt earned decisive victories over its dual meet opponents, defeating Lehman College 45-22 and St. Elizabeth University 46-23 to start the day.

The gold-and-black dominated the Cannoneer Duals, winning seven of the 10 events contested. The Cannoneers swept the top two spots in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 800-meter run, 100-meter hurdles, and shot put. Event winners included junior Kemi Ayeni (Stockbridge, Ga.) in the 100 meters (13.61), first-year Sarah Godlewski (Plymouth, Mass.) in the 200 meters (29.54), and first-year Melis Kavlicoglu (Reno, Nev.) in the 400 meters (1:02.84).

Senior Giovanna Lisa (Reading, Pa.) won the 800 meters (2:52.34), first-year Sonai Castrillo (Pine Hill, N.J.) took the 1500 meters (6:12.79), and sophomore Brooke Schreffler (Harrisburg, Pa.) won the 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 18.13 seconds. In the field, junior Hannah Kim (Camas, Wash.) won the shot put with a mark of 10.00 meters and sophomore Jordana Halpern (Oceanside, N.Y.) finished second with personal-best toss of 9.92 meters.

The success continued into the Pratt Invitational, headlined by another record-setting performance from Kim. She won the shot put for the second time, setting a new season-best throw of 10.38 meters with Halpern following in second with a mark of 9.39 meters.

On the track, Pratt's 4x400 relay team of Ayeni, Godlewski, Kavlicoglu, and first-year Josey Kanach took second place with a time of 4:32.25. In the 3000-meter run, Kavlicoglu finished third (12:07.80) and Lisa placed fourth (12:18.50). Ayeni also earned a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash (28.43) and a sixth-place finish in the long jump (4.03 meters). 

Kanach also scored a team-season-best mark in the 100-meter dash (13.55) to take sixth place. First-year Sonai Castrillo (Pine Hill, N.J.) nabbed a third place finish in the 800-meter run (3:03.01). Senior Kathleen Chen (Livingston, N.J.) added a seventh-place result in the 400-meter run (1:23.56).

Pratt returns to the track next weekend for the Vassar Spring Invite on Saturday, April 25 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.