Army Drops Close Star Series Matchup With Navy

WEST POINT – Despite a strong lead through most of the afternoon and multiple record setting performances, the Army West Point men’s and women’s track and field teams picked up a tough loss to Navy on Saturday.

Final Teams Scores
Men: 101- 80
Women: 98-83

Despite the final score, the Black Knights set five meet records on the women’s side. Emily Mikoud had two of them in the weight throw and the shot put followed by Anna Tovkach in the 800m, Georgia Jones in the 3000m and Brianna White in the long jump.

Mikoud continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the shot put and 20lb weight throw, moving her way to her third consecutive victory in both events. Her 15.48m mark in the shot put grabbed her a meet record, previously held by Briyah Brown (18’) and her weight throw marked at 20.49m broke both the meet (19.04m) and the facility record (19.74m). The facility record was one Mikoud broke earlier this year but the meet record was one previously held by Navy’s Ariana McKenzie.

Event Winners:
Long Jump: Brianna White – 5.88m
Weight Throw: Emily Mikoud – 20.49m
Triple Jump: Bonvie Fosam – 12.03m
Shot Put: Emily Mikoud – 15.48m
One Mile: Georgia Jones – 4:56.05
500m: Shayla Bonzelet – 1:15.33
800m: Anna Tovkach – 2:11.78
3000m: Georgia Jones – 9:42.62

Coach Mike Smith said of the women’s performance, “It was a difficult loss for us today. We had some bright spots in the field and on the track, but we were unable to put together enough second and third place finishes to win the meet. We could not overcome our lack of competitive depth in certain events and we didn’t win the close races on the track. We won four of the six field events but then got swept in the two field events that we lost. In the end, the small margins of defeat were too much to overcome. We have good people, and they have good people. They made fewer mistakes than us and their depth was more competitive than ours. I told our team that you have to have a short memory in sports and while this was a painful loss for our team, I think there will be a renewed focus when we get back to work on Monday.

The men’s team saw multiple event winners on the day, capturing victories in four of the six field events. Two of those wins came from junior Jamir Gibson who fought his way to victory in the weight throw and shot put. The Black Knights competed to multiple close races on the track but came up short in a few. The underclassman 4×800 team of Torin Christianson, Jack Perreault, Luke Griner and Peter Smith had a big day, closing out a victory on the track by a two second margin.

Event Winners:
Weight Throw: Jamir Gibson – 19.48m
Shot Put: Jamir Gibson – 18.17m
High Jump: Joshua Gilliard – 2.13m
Triple Jump: Tyrese Bender – 14.96m
One Mile: Caden Foster – 4:09.22
200m: Ryan Hogan – 21.70
4×800 – Torin Christianson, Jack Perreault, Luke Griner, Peter Smith – 7:40.93

Coach Mike Smith said of the men’s performance, “This was a disappointing outcome for our team today. I expected us to win our fair share of events and I thought we really would put together a much stronger overall performance. Our depth was just not good enough. In the field, we won four out of the six events but were unable to back up those wins with enough 2nd and 3rd place finishes. On the track we did not have enough wins and we lost some close races. At this meet the difference between winning and losing is a very small margin and we came down on the wrong side of that margin in far too many events. I told our team to have a short memory about this loss because you are never defined by the outcome; you are defined by how you respond to the outcome. That response for us comes Monday when we get back to work. While I am disappointed in how it went for us, I am confident that our team has the resolve to get better. We have a few more indoor meets on our schedule and then we can look forward to the outdoor season where we will get a chance to do this again down in Annapolis.”