As a reward for their impeccable performances this season, the Rowan Women’s Track & Field team was invited to the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational, featuring exceptional talents from the region’s Division I, II and III schools.
Held at the University of Pennsylvania, the Profs certainly held their own, showing out to programs theoretically performing at an entirely different level.
100m hurdler and senior Nicole Notarianni’s time of 14.89 was good for sixth place overall, but it was the fastest time recorded among Division II and III athletes, with the first five finishes belonging to Division I athletes.
The typical sprint melody relay tandem of Notarianni, junior Promise Fadahunsi, and sophomores Kat Pedersen and Amanthy Sosa Caceres earned seventh place with a time of 4:23.37.
Junior Makayla Taylor got the opportunity to flex her muscles and set some new personal records, accomplishing those feats with throws of 39.21m in the discus and 44.88m in the hammer. Those tosses were good for eight and ninth in her respective events.
Senior Olivia Scattergood was given a similar chance following her campaign thus far, turning in a 45.73m toss in the hammer and a 30.81m throw in the discus, clinching seventh and thirteenth place for the Profs.
Wrapping matters up for the Profs in Philly was sophomore Sophia Gresham, whose long jump of 5.04 was a seasonal best and resulted in a ninth place finish.
When asked about his feelings before the meet, Coach Derick “Ringo” Adamson had a sense that the Profs would rise to the occasion.
“You could sense it from practice,” Adamson said. “They’re really young, so my job is to calm them down and to tell them jokes to ease them. I tell them to treat it like a practice, to have fun and to have confidence in their preparation.”
Adamson’s squad has had the benefit of hosting multiple home meets this season, a feat not achieved since the coach’s days as an athlete back in 1978. To host those meets has meant the world to the girls, and he asserts that the best has yet to come.
“I feel a lot of our athletes are gonna break out in a big way soon,” Adamson proclaimed. “You have Scattergood, Notarianni, Taylor, Promise as a sprinter, and Collura as a distance runner. At the end of the day though, I don’t want to scare them. The future is greater than the present. We’ve had a great recruiting class, and it’s been a really good thing to watch this season.”
While Coach Adamson was unable to watch his team perform at the Osprey Invitational this past Sunday due to the meet’s cancelation, the Profs will be picking things back up this Saturday at the Fast Times Before Finals event held in their own backyard.
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