PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Iona University men's and women's outdoor track teams competed on the opening day of the 2024 Penn Relays at Franklin Field. Four Gaels raced in three events in the men's and women's college 5,000-meter championship and in the men's college 10,000-meter championship.
WOMEN'S 5000-METER RUN
Junior
Holly Smith finished 12th overall in the 5,000-meter run, posting a personal best time of 16:11.75. She improved her lowest time by more than five seconds from a March in Raleigh. Smith continues to stand at No. 5 on Iona's all-time performance list.
Freshman
Claragh Keane also ran a personal best time with a 16:54.01, good for 44th overall. Her previous best time of 16:55.65 came indoors at the IC4A Championship. On Iona's outdoor performance list the time ranks in the Top 20 and was less than four seconds shy of Iona's top rookie performance set by former Gael
Sophie Murphy in 2018.
MEN'S 10,000-METER RUN
Sophomore
Tadhg Donnelly was the Gaels top performer, placing ninth overall in the 10,000-meter event. He ran a personal best time of 29:21.98 lowering his bronze medal performance in the 2023 MAAC Championship by more than two minutes. The effort also propelled Donnelly into the top 20 on Iona's all-time performance list.
MEN'S 5000-METER RUN
Sophomore
Scott Fagan ran a personal best time of 14:22.25 in the 5,000-meter event. He was 40th overall. His time beat his previous best of 14:28.17 in Raleigh a month ago.
IONA PERFORMANCES
MEN:
5k:
Scott Fagan, 40th, 14:22.25.
10k:
Tadhg Donnelly, 9th, 29:21.98.
WOMEN:
5k:
Holly Smith, 12th, 16:11.75;
Claragh Keane, 44th, 16:54.01.
UP NEXT
The Gaels continue action at the Penn Relays on Saturday when they take on the College Men's 4xMile Championship of America at 12:55 p.m. The quartet of
Aiden Coles,
Bradley Giblin,
Nick Soldevere, and
Damien Dilcher, who rank No. 9 in the NCAA this season in average 1,500-meter time look to push Iona's top time ever in the event. They will compete against 11 other squads including Clemson, Duke, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Villanova, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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Iona Gaels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (
Email Updates).
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