Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Navy - Star Meet
Track & Field Bested by Navy in Star Meet
February 05, 2023 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army men's and women's indoor track teams suffered defeats to arch-rival Navy in the annual service academy Star Meet Saturday at Gillis Field House.
The Midshipmen built an early lead en route to claiming the Star with a 113-68 decision, while the Army women challenged their counterparts in the field events, but Navy dominated the running events in taking a 111.5-69.5 victory.
The Army woman had notable performances winning two of the field events, a relay along with claiming several second and third place finishes.
Leading that field contingent were Kayley Ragazzini, posting a one-two finish in the weight throw, followed by Aysia Salas' first in the shot put in a sweep of the top three places.
Ragazzini, who had a winning toss of 17.96 meters in the weight throw, followed by Barbara Antti (17.72), also placed among the top three in the shot put. They trailed Salas' winning toss of 14.7 in placing second (14.55) and third (14.26), respectively.
Lindsey Smith was second in the long jump (5.71) and took third in the triple jump (11.65), while Nataleigh Cantu tied for runner-up honors in the high jump (1.65) in rounding out Army's performances in the field events.
The Black Knights captured the 4x400 relay behind the contingent of Emma Taylor, Lara Westwood-Marsh, Shayla Bonzelet and Holli Chapman who combined for a winning time of 3:52.65.
Also shining in the running events with second-place finishes were Saydee Aganus, 60 hurdles (8.66), Ever Elegon, 500 meters (1:16.30), Jazmine Alderman, 60-meter dash (7.65), Joanna Halfhill, 1000 meters (2:52.15), and Charlotte Richman, 3000-meter run (9:45.61). Alderman also took third in the 200 (25.10).
In the men's competition, Luke Griner set a meet record beating the field in the 800 run (1:50.06) and later ran the final leg on the winning 4x400-meter relay. Also joining the winners' circle was Mitchell Burr after beating the field in the 1000 meters in 2:25.83, then rounded out the members of the 4x800 relay team of Gideon Rothschild, John Starkey and Anthony Schmitz for a winning time of 7:50.87.
Placing second in the running events were Jeremiah Rasmussen, mile (4:08.45), Kasen Jeitz, 500 meters (1:05.57), Brian Matthews, 200 meters (22.25) and Garrett Gough, 3000 meters (8:14.74). Rasmussen was also third in the 1000 (2:29.06).
For a full list of results click HERE.
Coach's Corner
Women
"We were beaten soundly today. We had some opportunities to score well on the oval but failed to capitalize. The only area where we dominated was the throws. We swept both the shot put and the weight throw and although we didn't put up huge marks, our women took care of business. Kayley Ragazinni has taken on a leadership role on our team through her consistent example of success. Her win in the weight throw was not her best throw of the year but at a meet like this the mark is secondary to the win and her win gave us a big boost early in the meet. In the shot put, we took the top three spots and I felt like that gave us even more momentum as we headed into the track events. Aysia Salas won it and Kayley followed closely behind her in second and Barbara Antwi had the best throw of her life to finish third. Those three women will play a big role in our success at the conference meet so it was great to see them sweep the top spots today in a pressure packed environment. Aysia in particular was very impressive. She had been struggling with recovery from an ankle injury earlier in the fall and was pretty frustrated with how her season was lining up. But today she lined things up and was rewarded with the big win. I was impressed with how she handled the adjustments that she needed to make and proud of how she finished the meet today. There is a lot more she can accomplish this winter and spring. Our other win today was in the 4x400m relay. Holli Chapman had a good race in the open 400 today and we knew we could count on her to anchor our relay. Emma Taylor did a nice job of giving us the early lead, Lara Westwood Marsh kept us ahead, Shayla Bonzelet gave Holli a little cushion and then Holli brought home the win. In the end, our successes were too few to make a big difference in the final outcome. We can be better than we were today and the conference meet sets up well for us in three weeks." - Director of Track & Field Mike Smith
Men
"We were soundly defeated today. That is not to say that we didn't compete well because we did. We just were not good enough in the majority of the events. When we won, we didn't have enough depth behind our winners to match our opponent. It was a difficult day for us across the board. We won 4 events and all of those wins came on the oval. Mitchell Burr took the title in the 1k. Mitch has started to assert his speed in races this year and today he took over the lead in the 1000m race with about 300m to go and he won going away. He is a great finisher and his sit and kick strategy paid off with a big win. We also won both of the relays. The other event that we won was the 800 meters. Luke Griner set our program record in the 800 two weeks ago and today he dominated the race from the gun. His time of 1:50.06 was a track record and a Star Series meet record. He is now in the top 30 on the NCAA list as we go into next weekend. He has shown flashes of great potential since his arrival two years ago but this season has been his most consistent and his most dominant. He is undefeated in the 800 and has yet to be tested. He has a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. We have three weeks to get ready for the conference championship and a chance to improve on our competitive outcomes from today." - Director of Track & Field Mike Smith
UP NEXT
The Black Knights head to Boston, Mass., to compete in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 10-11).
Players Mentioned
