LAKELAND, Fla. — The Ave Maria Track and Field team took home 23 medals in the Sun Conference Championships held Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27. It is the most medals the Gyrenes have ever won in a conference championship since starting the program in 2022. Ave Maria had four individual champions, three individuals and two teams placed second and four individuals and one team placed third.
Michael Long was the only individual champion on the men's side, continuing his dominance in the 800 meter dash. Long finished second in the preliminary race on Saturday and then had another great race on the track Sunday to win the finals with a time of 1:54.18. The sophomore has now won the last three 800 meter championships in the conference, winning the both indoor and outdoor this season and outdoor last year.
The other three individual championships were on the women's side with one track gold medal and two field gold medals.
Madison Thomas took home gold in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 11:38.14. It was just the second time in her career that the junior as ran the steeplechase and she bested her first time by 40 seconds. In the final race, Thomas finished 50 seconds ahead of the next runner, the most dominant win of the weekend for the Gyrenes.
Audrey Baker won the discus event with a throw of 40.63 meters. It was a season-best for the freshman from Montana, passing her previous high mark by over half a meter. The discus throw was a tightly contested event. Baker hit 40.63 in the third round. In the fourth round, a St. Thomas Bobcat got within 0.21 meters of Baker, but her mark held on for the win.
The final gold medal went to Lucia Zvonar in the heptathlon with 3872 points. Zvonar finished in the top three out of the eight athletes in six of the seven events with an outright win in the long jump. Zvonar moved into first place in the standings after the sixth event where she placed second in the javelin. In the final event, the 800 meter race, Zvonar beat the second the St. Thomas Bobcat in second place by nine seconds to secure her win in the heptathlon.
The second place finishes for the Gyrenes were Chris Hermann in the 10,000 meters, John Halvorsen in the 3000 steeplechase, Molly From in the high jump, the women's 4x400 relay team and the women's 4x800 relay team.
The third place finishes were Hermann in the 5000 meters, Sebastian Shea in the 10,000 meters, the men's 4x800 relay and Sofia Torres in both the 1500 and 10,000 meter races.
As a team, the women finished third in the conference with 106 points. It is the highest they have finished in program history. The men finished in fourth place with 77 points. They finished fourth in the indoor championships as well.
With the completion of the Sun Conference championships, the Gyrenes now eagerly await to see who gets a bid to the NAIA National Championships. Last year, only Michael Long represented Ave Maria in the 800 meters, but in the indoor season, four Gyrenes earned bids to the big dance. The National Championships are May 21-23 in Marion, Indiana.
