Four Seniors All Contribute in Last Home Meet

TOWSON, Md. — Today was the final home meet for Goucher seniors Christine Cherry (Laurel, Md./Meade), Katelynn Zidanic (York, Pa./Central York), Kathryn Walker (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) and Shea Staab (Fallston, Md./Fallston), and each played a hand in leading the Gophers to a fifth place finish at the Goucher Track & Field Classic.

Cherry, running in the 10,000 meters to begin the meet's track schedule, took over 35 seconds off of her previous personal best while racing to a fourth place finish overall. She picked up five points for the Gophers after completing the event in 42:56.13, a time which was the third-fastest in school history.

Zidanic grabbed Goucher's only first-place finish of the afternoon in her signature event, the 3,000 meter steeplechase. She finished the course in 12:30.56, besting the second-place finisher by over 20 seconds and earning an additional 10 points for the team. She also joined teammates June Chiango (Wyomissing, Pa./Wyomissing Area), Camille Jorgensen (San Diego, Calif./Patrick Henry) and Staab in the 3,000 meters, and the foursome finished 2-5 in the race to grab 23 more points for the Gophers.

Chiango led the pack with a time of 11:30.88, the sixth-fastest result in school history in the event and the fastest since Hadley Courad posted a mark of 11:14.07 at this meet back in 2010. Zidanic came next at 11:59.19, and she was closely followed by Jorgensen (12:01.92) and Staab (12:07.49).

Walker ended her home career with a pair of top five finishes. She was fifth in both the 800 meters (2:42.23) and the 1,500 meters (5:22.49). Chiango also raced in the 1,500 meters, placing fourth with a time of 5:21.36, while Rebecca Kotula (Fallston, Md./John Carroll School) scored an additional point for Goucher in the 800 with her eight-place result of 2:44.11.

Maafio Appiah-Padi (Edmonton, Alberta/Lewisburg Area) paced the Gophers in field action, highlighted by a third-place finish in the women's shot put. She recorded a top distance of 9.90 meters in the event, which bested 12 of the 15 competitors and was less than one meter behind champion Mary Clark from Catholic. Appiah-Padi also earned points in the hammer throw (32.96 meters - sixth) and the discus throw (20.90 meters - seventh).

In jumping, Sara Aganovic (Pasadena, Md./McDonogh) recorded top five results in each of her two events. Her top long jump distance of 4.87 meters placed her fourth in the event and gave Goucher five points towards its total, and she also added a fifth-place finish in the triple jump (9.39 meters).

Danielle Granger (Amherst, Va./Amherst County) grabbed the final eight points for the Gophers. She placed fourth in the 400 meter hurdles (75.50) and raced to a sixth-place finish in the 100 meter hurdles (17.85).

As a team, Goucher earned a total of 80 points, finishing just five points back of third-place Catholic. Salisbury dominated the 10-team meet. The Sea Gulls won six events overall, and their total of 218 points was 118 above second-place Hood.

The Gophers now have two weeks off before returning to action on Saturday, April 12 at the Messiah Invitational in Grantham, Pa.