Schepis and Cross Nab Large PRs at BU Last Chance Meet

In the final competition for nearly all competing, a group of Lancers made the trip to Boston University on Friday to compete among collegians, club and other high school athletes at the BU Last Chance Meet. With professional athletes milling around and the steep banks at BU's Track & Tennis Center, personal bests were bound to be run by the athletes running under the "Lancer Elite" moniker. And sure enough, the afternoon consisted of either lifetime bests or continued consistency.

Girls

Senior captain Ashley Schepis (2:32.30) opened up the day's events with a shot at a personal best in the 800m. Having run 2:40 in 800m splits during the season, it certainly was in sight. Competing out of the last section, she opened up quickly in her race in order to stay with the tail of the pack. She came through 600m in a new personal best (1:51.46) as she grinded through a positively-split race, shattering her previous best in the half mile by nearly eight full seconds.

Still hungry for another shot at the mile, mid-distance runner Megan Cross (5:32.82) came into the meet hoping to find improvement from her indoor mile best, run earlier in the season at 5:48. Opening up in 40s, she fell down to 42 and 43 through 800m (2:46.54) but found more in her to pass fading unattached high school runners. Closing in a 39, she also obliterated her previous best by 16 seconds, asserting her depth beyond 600m and 1,000m.

The last girl to compete was senior captain Eve Rodriguez (27.81) competing in the open 200m. The opening leg for this year's Nationals SMR, Rodriguez trained through the week and used the race as a chance to refocus her racing back to 200m. Competing in Lane 5, however, she was stuck having to climb up more of the BU bank on the second curve. However, she remained optimistic and utilized the meet for practice with the blocks and working the bank for next month's meet at The Armory.

Boys

Only two Lancers opted to compete on the boys side; both in the 800m run. Sean Wynne (2:07.63) had personal best aspirations but fell victim to being too slow for his heat and too fast for the heat before him. He quickly fell into a gap roughly 300m into the race. Wynne went out hard in 29.76-31.42 but hit 600m in 1:34.66 with no one in sight to help him, forcing him to fall back into 2:07.63. Though not a personal best, still a consistent time for his season.

Senior captain Ethan Tetrault (2:12.36) fell into a similar predicament. In his final indoor race, he respected the early pace of his heat. Coming through 400m in 1:04.67, Tetrault hit a snag and couldn't accelerate past the heat leader, faltering in the final meters keeping him away from a season's best 800m.


Up Next: Isabella Pietrasiewicz makes her debut at the New England Championships at Reggie on Saturday in the 1,000m run. The meet starts at 10:30 am with the oval events starting at 11:30 am.