UMBC women’s indoor track & field won its first America East Indoor Championship following a sensational performance at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center on Saturday, February 21.
The Retrievers, who finished the day with 163 total points, defeated UAlbany and Bryant who finished second-place and third-place with 143 and 116.83 points respectively.
Members of the team gave their thoughts on the historic accomplishments of their season.
Senior mid-distance Lily Strelecki said,
“It’s honestly an indescribable experience. We had the smallest roster going into the conference meet, but we showed grit and determination to make our way to the top. Winning this championship shows that anything is possible when you put your heart and mind into it.”
Strelecki was a part of the distance medley relay alongside junior Katelyn Deal, sophomore Lyna Beraich, and sophomore Faith Akinlami that won silver for the Retrievers with a time of 11:42.20.
However, the medals did not stop, as the Retrievers also won their fair share of gold at the meet which helped propel them to victory.
Sophomore distance Kate Schwaner won the conference championship in the 800 meters with a time of 2:09.91, earned silver in the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:49.95, and was a member of the 4 x 800 relay team which finished second with a time of 9:05.08. Schwaner’s performance earned her both the Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet and America East Coaches Awards.
The 4 x 400 relay squad also took gold with freshman Lily Bandy, junior Dalyce Schmidt, senior Leanne McDonald, and sophomore Anna Creel combining for a meet record time of 3:44.12; cementing their names in the conference record book. Freshman hurdles/sprints Enazajah Young struck gold in the 60-meter hurdles with a school record 8.31 and silver in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7:51 en route to being named the Most Outstanding Rookie. Sophomore Anna Creel won gold in the 200 meters with a time of 24.20 while junior Lyna Beraich won the mile with a time of 4:50.29. The team’s final gold was earned by senior Ava Roberts in the shot put with a throw of 14.93 meters.
When asked about the feeling of winning gold, Roberts said “Winning feels great when the behind the scenes work is done in the summer and fall. It felt great to contribute for the team, and just lead with greatness inside.”
The team also came away with a plethora of silver-medal performances. The 4 x 800 squad comprised of junior Katelyn Deal, sophomore Lydia Nelson, freshman Lilly Norcross, and Schwaner finished with a time of 9:05.08 and the distance medley relay comprised of Beraich, Deal, Strelcki, and sophomore Faith Akinlami finished with a time of 11:42.20. McDonald was the runner-up in the 400 meters with a time of 55.96 while junior Winter Evans provided UMBC a top duo finishing as the runner-up being Young in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8:52.
When asked if it always felt the team would win a championship, Deal said “the coaches had been calculating the probability of our team winning the championship almost the entire season. Heading into conferences, we were predicted to do very well. As exciting as it was to know our regular season had gone well, it was also important to not go into the meet complacent. The girls did an amazing job performing confidently and with grit, and the focus was on the individual events at the time. As the meet progressed, all the individual successes throughout the weekend were combined for the team title.”
When asked what it was like to balance the championship and school, Strelecki said “as a senior, balancing sports and school throughout the years varies. Some years it is more manageable than others, and running is more fun being with your teammates. Other years it can be very difficult because you need to make up practice on your own, whether that be long runs, easy runs, workouts, lifts, etc…[at] times it can be difficult to have the motivation and enthusiasm but it’s moments like these that make it all worth it.”
Freshman Mady Bobb echoed the same sentiment saying “At first, it was definitely hard, especially coming in as a freshman and college being much different from high school. It took some time getting used to, but it really came down to making sacrifices with my social life and balancing what’s most important, which is academics first then track…but once you have a set schedule it’s easier to balance everything else.”
When asked who helped them the most on this journey, Bobb highlighted her coaches and mom saying “[Coach Bobb] helped me a lot along with my mom because they all encouraged me and guided me throughout the whole season, even when I was not PR’ing. They told me to be patient and that the time will come and the time came when we won as a team and I PR’ed twice in the 200 at conferences.”
With a roster consisting of only 6 seniors and graduate students, the women’s track & field team is poised to build upon this season’s success next season and the seasons to come.
Ryan Nickerson is a junior communications major and a sports writer for The Retriever.
Contact Ryan at ryann3@umbc.edu.