When Katie Guarnaccia crossed the finish line on Saturday, she did not expect to find out she increased her 5,000-meter run time, 46 seconds faster than she ran at the previous meet.
The freshman distance runner from North Allegheny went on to claim two first place victories for the Pioneers at the Westminster Invitational in New Wilmington, Pa. Guarnaccia’s wins scored 20 of the 32 points for women’s track team to rank 10th overall of the 22 teams that competed. The men’s team placed 14th overall.
“I was really surprised and proud of myself,” Guarnaccia said on Sunday night in Lawrence Hall. “It was a lot more than I thought I was going to increase my time, but I didn’t want to doubt my ability.”
Guarnaccia ran the 5K with a time of 17 minutes and 58 seconds, 46 seconds faster than second place winner Elizabeth Snyder of Carnegie Mellon University. She also took first in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:58, setting a new personal best and school record in both events.
According to the University’s Athletic website, Guarnaccia’s time in the 5K earned her a top 20 time in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) this year. However, she still needs to decrease her time by 8 seconds to become a national qualifier.
“My good friend, Ashley Czerniewski-Hagan has the motto ‘The faster you run the faster, you’re done,’ so I kept saying it in my head,” Guarnaccia said. “I wasn’t just saying it because I wanted to be done, but I wanted to get a faster time. I was just pushing myself the entire race to try to keep my pace up.”
Zach Watts, a freshman sprinter on the men’s team, was also surprised by Guarnaccia’s performance.
“Her 5K was just amazing. I wasn’t expecting her to break her PR (Personal Record) by almost 40 seconds,” Watts said. “She surprised most of the team and coachS she did really well.”
Watts was a part of the men’s 4×400- meter relay squad that set a new school record time of 3:33.32 and placed eighth.
Other notable performances came from freshman sprinter De’Anthony Morgan, who led Point Park in the 100-and 200-meter dashes, placing 11th in both races. Morgan set a new school record and personal best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.77 seconds. He was also a part of both relay squads [4×100 and 4×400] for the men’s team.
“I know I can do way better, and I will do better, so it’s just the beginning,” Morgan said on Monday.
By better, Morgan said one of his goals is to run under 11 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Freshman sprinter Falonte Jackson, who’s done running for the season due to injury, currently holds the school record for the 100-meter dash at 11.19 seconds.
The Pioneers are back in action this Saturday at the Slippery Rock Dave Labor Invitational in Slippery Rock, Pa. This will be the final meet before the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) championship April 24-25 at Rio Grande.
