Sprinters Lead Way As Ramblers Open Indoor Track and Field Season - Loyola University Chicago Official Athletic Site

Dec. 4, 2011

Normal, Ill. - Junior Declan Murray won the mile and freshmen Kevin Glastetter (600m) and Jade Kinney (200m) also won event titles as Loyola's track and field team opened the indoor season at the Redbird Invitational in Normal, Ill.

"Overall I felt that both squads competed well," said head coach Randy Hasenbank. "We did have some nice opening marks and I really enjoyed watching them compete. We need to keep our focus on training as we send the teams home over break. I personally am looking forward to a putting together two very competitive squads by the time the of Horizon League Championships. We do have some a lot of work ahead of us and we have some holes to fill."

On the men's side, Murray started the season on the right foot, winning the mile run with a time of 4:21.73. Teammates Nolan Fine (4:26.65) and Ned Brady (4:27.31) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the event as well. Also in the middle distance area, Glastetter breezed to the title in the 600m, posting a time of 1:20.72 that moves him into second place on Loyola's all-time list, behind only Bob O'Connor who set the school record (1:19.10) way back in 1966.

Sprinters James McLachlan and Bay Abbott also fared well in the opening meet. McLachlan had to settle for second place in the 60m dash despite a personal-best time of 7.02 that ties him with Jimel Denham (2006) for second all time. Meanwhile, Abbott covered the 200m distance in 23.02 to finish fifth in the field of 43 runners.

Capping the day for the men, the 4x400m relay team of Glastetter, Abbott, Dennis Kott and Murray won the title with a clocking of 3:19.20.

For the women, Kinney turned in a pair of terrific races to lead the way. She breezed to the title in the 200m with a time of 26.19, over two one-hundredths of a second faster than her closest competitor. That came on the heels of a fourth-place finish in the 60m dash, in which her preliminary time of 7.91 moved her into a tie with Devin Gosberry for second on Loyola's all-time chart.

Elsewhere on the track, fellow freshman Brigid Murray took eighth in the 200m (27.47) while Sophia Holy grabbed sixth in the 400m in 1:01.04. The Ramblers' 4x400m relay team (Holy, Kinney, Candice Carajohn, Murray) settled for third with a final time of 4:01.75.

Two other Ramblers recorded top five efforts in the field events. Freshman Nikolina Madjer finished fifth in the high jump, with her top height of 5-02.00 moving her into a tie for fourth on Loyola's all-time list while Carajohn earned fifth in the long jump with a leap of 5.27m.

Loyola takes six weeks off before returning to competition at Iowa on Jan. 14, 2012.