By Eldridg Chavez
It’s February 25, 2018. We’re at the New Balance Track and Field Center in New York City. The City College Lady Beavers have just dethroned the reigning back-to-back CUNYAC Women’s Indoor Track and Field champions, Hunter College, by the slimmest of margins, four points. Before we see how CCNY edged out the Hawks, let’s see how we got here first.
Coming off a second place finish the year before, CCNY had a slew of returning stars. Senior
Cassie Gibbons and sophomore’s
Angeles Anunagba and
Lucy Piacentini returned setting the bar higher, each improving their previous year’s marks.
But it was a newcomer who led the way for the Beavers. Freshman
Avery Maillet took the conference on notice during the CUNYAC Championships, but it was her consistent performances during the season that crowned her CUNYAC Rookie of the Year.
Maillet joined the roster only two weeks before the winter opener. During her rookie campaign, the product from Onteora High School took first in the long jump at the St. Joseph College Invitational and was part of a second-place finish in the 4x400 medley relay at the Frank Golden Invitational.
At the CUNYAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, Gibbons led all senior college runners in the 200m dash (26.42) and won the 400m event in 59.82. Piacentini took home the gold in the 60m hurdles, crossing the finish line at 10.08, and led off a 4x400m relay for the Beavers that finished second in 4:15.28.
Anunagba set the tone in the field events, winning the weight throw (10.94m) and triple jump (11.37m) events. She also took silver in the shot put with a heave of 9.14m and added a third-place showing in the long jump.
Hunter was neck-and-neck with the Beavers, as the team of
Agnes Eigo,
Bianca Rey,
Sherly Quezada Santana and
Zoe Colasacco ran to a first-place time of 14:24.39 in the distance medley relay.
Senior
Vera Pertsovskaya led the Hawks with three first-place performances. She captured gold in the 800m (2:26.49), 3000m (11:47.30) the mile (5:26.68). Freshman
Emily Tavares and Eigo came in second and third in all three events, respectively.
However, it was Maillet that made the difference. She won the long jump by over a foot with a leap of 5.47m, while placing third and leading all senior college runners in the 60m dash (8.04). For her efforts, Maillet was named the championship Most Valuable Performer.
At the end of the night, CCNY scored a total of 126 points with Hunter tallying 122. It was the program's third title in the past six years and its first since 2015.
Anunagba excelled for the Beavers, earning CUNYAC Field Performer of the Year recognition, posting the team's top marks in the high jump, triple jump, shot put and weight throw. Gibbons capped off her final year with the league's best senior college times in both the 200m and 400m dashes. She closed out her collegiate career as the CUNYAC Track Performer of the Year.
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