READING, Pa. – Anna Cooney and Carly Gable each won a gold medal to lead the Widener women's indoor track and field team to a second-place finish at the 2022 MAC Championships on Friday and Saturday at The Plex at Alvernia University.
 
The Pride totaled 115 points to earn their first top-three finish at the conference championship meet since 2008, when they took third. They finished 39 points behind champion Misericordia in the team standings.

The Pride came away with their runner-up finish at this year's championship meet after receiving 10 top-three finishes. 

Leading the way were Anna Cooney and Carly Gable, who each came away with a gold medal.

Cooney claimed victory in the shot put with a heave of 14.23 meters (46 feet, 8 ¼ inches). With her throw, the senior from Nottingham, Pa. gave her the second-best throw in school history in the event.

Cooney also placed second in the weight throw after she flung the weight 15.68 meters (51-5.5).

Gable grabbed her gold in the 3,000-meter run with a school-record time of 10:23.18. The York, Pa. native surpassed her previous record of 10:35.45 by 12.27 seconds.

Along with the two winners, the Pride saw Grace Murphy, the 4x800 relay team, and  the distance medley relay each place second.

Murphy finished as the runner-up in the 5,000 after clocking a school-record time of 18:15.37. Murphy's time shattered her previous school-best time of 18:44.33 by 28.96 seconds.

The DMR team of Bernotas, Groetz, Carly Lownes and Jaden Sweely  combined for a school-record time of 12:37.60. The relay team beat the previous time of 12:48.44 from 2020 by 10.84 seconds. 

The 4x800 relay team of Katelyn Bernotas, Sarah Groetz, Donna Holt, and Jaden Sweely posted a time of 9:57.14 for its second-place finish. The foursome's time was good enough for the second-fastest time in school history.

The Blue and Gold also received third-place finishes from Bernotas, Maria Muzzarelli, Savannah Steger, and Theresa Kervick.
Bernotas came away with a bronze in the mile run in 5:16.05. Muzzarelli took third in the 60 in 8.01.

Steger tied for third in the pole vault after clearing a height of 3.10 meters (10-2). Kervick rounded out the bronze medalists with a third in the pentathlon after scoring 2,832 points.