Braun, Depo claim league titles

The Plattsburgh State track and field team had two individual winners last weekend at the SUNYAC Championships, Stefanie Braun led the women’s team and Ben Depo leading the men’s team.

Interim head coach Nick Jones was proud to see a couple of his athletes come up with victories.

“They did a good job, they worked hard all year,” Jones said. “They deserve to be champions.”

Braun took the 10,000-meter run title with a time of 37 minutes, 4.36 seconds. She said defending the SUNYAC title since her sophomore year is always nice for her, especially because she has done it through the end of her senior year.

“I was seated ahead of the other girls by a lot, so basically I just really wasn’t concerned about my time,” Braun said. “I was just hopefully going for the win, which is what I did and I was really happy.”

Braun also placed second in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:45.93. While she was hoping to win, Braun was still happy with her finish considering she ran the 10,000-meter run the night before.

Joanne TeRiele said though Braun is extremely athletic, her continued success is a tribute to her hard work and dedication to improving.

“I kind of expect Stefanie to win now,” TeRiele said. “She’s champion of the SUNYACs, so you expect greatness from her.”

Braun also said she was happy to see results from putting in hard work throughout the course of the season.

“It’s really great to see my hard work paying off,” Braun said. “Last year I
had a rough patch, and it’s finally coming together my senior year, so it’s good.”

Braun, who won’t be running at the ECAC Championships in order to rest, is looking to end her college career with a strong performance at the NCAA Championships at the end of the month.

“I really would like to end my season on a good note and hopefully finally get that All-American for the 10K,” Braun said. “I’m really excited.”

TeRiele also performed well at the meet, taking fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (16.58 seconds) and third in the 400-meter hurdles (1:05.58). Though she finished high in the standings, TeRiele was not pleased with her performance.

“With the 400-hurdles I was supposed to get first and just mentally wasn’t there I guess,” TeRiele said.

TeRiele was not solely responsible for not finishing where she wanted to. For her running lane only, the hurdle at the 200-meter mark was set higher than normal at the 100-meter height by mistake, and TeRiele said it negatively affected her time and placement in the event.

“I was on pace to PR and to run a really great time,” TeRiele said. “It was kind of sucky.”

Despite letting herself down last weekend, TeRiele has bounced back before, such as after a false start two weeks ago that preceded a win the following week.

“Anytime you mess up in race, you always want to get back out on the track and redeem yourself,” TeRiele said.

For the men’s team, Depo won the men’s javelin throw title, posting a throw of 48.63 meters. He was pleased with his performance as he still recovers from the hamstring injury he sustained a few weeks ago in Cortland.

“It was good, especially because I was not able to do my regular event, which is the decathlon,” Depo said. “It feels good to get a win in something else.”

Depo said he will attempt to compete in the decathlon in ECACs, and both he and his coach said they expect to have him fully recovered by that time.

The men’s 4x100-meter relay also had a standout performance, placing second and nearly overtaking Oneonta in the final seconds, with their time of 42.64 seconds just tenths of a second behind Oneonta’s winning mark of 42.27 seconds.

“We need all those guys to contribute to the team,” Jones said.

Jones said Brian Drollette lead off last meet for the relay team, but he sustained a hamstring injury during his run.

Drollette fought through it and managed to hand off the baton, which gave his teammates the ability to close a lot of ground. Drollette is expected to be healthy for the ECAC Championships, which take place in two weeks in Troy.

Next week at the May Meet in Oneonta, several Cardinals will be competing to improve their times, to qualify for the ECAC Championships or to simply train for the following weeks.