Army Throwers Highlight Black Knights In Star Meet

WEST POINT – The Army West Point men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams dominated the throw events in the annual Star Series presented by USAA on Saturday, but both programs drop the meet to the Navy Midshipmen. The women fell 117-86 and the men lost 107-93.

Jamir Gibson continued his tremendous season by winning both the shot put and the discus. Gibson won the shot put with an 18.13 toss on his third attempt. He has won the shot put in all three outdoor events this spring. He won the discus with his second throw of 56.74m. Gibson’s performance helped the Black Knights win the shot put and discus with contributions from Luke Noonan (shot put) and Jake Nwosu (discus). Cameron Smith won eh hammer throw (61.77) with Marco Risi (59.86) and Deven McNeal (57.77) coming in third and fourth place.

On the oval, the Black Knights won five events. Army took both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Jon Redmond (10.72) and Ryan Hogan (10.74) finished 1-2 in the 100m. Luke Griner won the 800m for the third straight event, finishing with a time of 1:51.27. In the 400m hurdles, Justin Young won the race in 52.12, and Nicholas Stoeckle was second (53.64).

EVENT WINNERS
4×100 – Noah Shute, Justin Young, Ryan Hogan, Jon Redmond (40.66)
4×400 – 3:14.79
100m – Jon Redmond (10.72)
800m – Luke Griner (1:51.27)
400m hurdles – Justin Young (52.12)
Shot Put – Jamir Gibson (18.13)
Discus Throw – Jamir Gibson (56.74(
Hammer Throw – Cam Smith (61.77)

The Black Knights earned 24 points from the shot put, discus throw, and hammer throw while finishing in the top three in all three events. In the hammer throw, Abigail Green won the event (60.24) followed by Emily Mikoud (58.40) and Emily Fink (54.37). Karly Parcell won the discus (47.94) with a personal record throw. Sophia Dykstra placed second (47.60) and Mikoud was third. Fink won the shot put (15.49) with Aysia Sala (15.06) in second and Mikoud (14.71) in third place.

Lindsey Smith set a meet record in the long jump (5.84), Hannah Blakey won the 400m hurdles (1:00.60), and Anna Tovkach won the 400m (55.26) in a personal record time.

EVENT WINNERS
400m – Anna Tovkach (55.26)
400m hurdles – Hannah Blakey (1:00.60)
Long jump – Lindsey Smith (5.84)
Shot put – Emily Fink (15.49)
Discus throw – Karly Parcell (47.94)
Hammer throw – Abigail Green (60.24)

“It was a tough day for our teams today. We were prepared and we competed well but in the overall scheme of things, we were just not good enough. Both of our teams (men and women) are as good as they have ever been. We continue to set more program records than any team before us. We continue to add names to the all-time top 10 lists weekly. We are breaking service academy records and meet records and yet our collective bests have not been good enough to win the Star meet. I told our teams that the individual improvements that people are making are exactly what we expect. But the bar for success today was measured not in individual wins or great performances but on the overall team outcome. We did not measure up to the standard. The bar for success has been raised higher and we need to continue to elevate our expectations of what “good” is if we want to win,” said Coach Mike Smith.