2011-12 Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Season Previews
SWARTHMORE, Pa. – With the return of many of their top athletes from last year's squads, the Swarthmore College men's and women's indoor track & field teams enter their seasons with high hopes that they can move up in the Conference standings in 2011-12.
Big things are expected from the women's indoor track & field team in 2011, as the Garnet – fresh off a sixth-place finish at the 2011 Centennial Conference Championship meet – returns many of its top finishers for the 2011-12 season.
Leading the way for the Garnet women this season is senior Kenyetta Givans, who last season was named the USTFCCA Division III Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for the Mideast Region. Givans, who finished ninth in the NCAA Division III indoor track & field championships in the 55 meter hurdles, was the first Swarthmore athlete to be named the USTFCCA Mideast Track Athlete of the Year since Imo Akpan in 2002. Givans also won the Centennial Conference championship in the 55 meter hurdles with a school-record time of 8.29, which ranks ninth among Division III competitors this season. She also finished third in the 55-meter dash at Centennials with a personal-best time of 7.45 seconds. Other key returners for the Garnet this season include junior Rebecca Hammond, who earned the silver in the 800 meter dash (2:22.07) in the Centennial Conference championship last season, and sophomore Chelsea Hicks who took the bronze in the triple jump (10.56m) at Centennials, which ranks sixth all-time in program history.
Coming off a ninth-place finish in the Centennial conference a year ago, the Garnet men's team hopes that its cast of returning standouts will help the squad rise up the conference standings. Senior jumper Daniel Ly who finished sixth in the triple jump (13.00m) and eighth in the long jump (5.97m) at the Centennial Championship meet last season, will hope to have another successful season for the Garnet. Also returning this season are the distance medley team of senior Henry Ainley, junior John McMinn, junior Aidan DuMont-McCaffrey and sophomore Jake Weiner, who took sixth place with a time of 10:59.59 at the Centennial Conference championships last season, as well as distance runner Jacob Phillips, who is coming off a very successful cross country season this past fall, earning a spot in the NCAA National Championship Meet.
The Garnet open the season at the Villanova Pyrah Invitational at Haverford College on December 2. Other highlights of the schedule include the Haverford McElligott Invitational (February 3-4), the Boston University Valentine Invitational (February 10-11), and the NYU Invitational (February 18). The Centennial Conference Championship, hosted by Ursinus, is scheduled for February 25.
