By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elon won its third consecutive Colonial Athletic Association women’s track and field championship, finishing the two-day meet earlier this month at Zable Stadium on the William & Mary campus in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Elon’s 185 points were well ahead of conference newcomer and runner-up Hampton’s 124. That marked the largest margin of victory in the CAA championships for any team in 20 years.
This school year, Elon also won the CAA titles in women’s cross country and women’s indoor track and field.
Elon’s 400-meter relay team of Meghan Wilcox, Kalli’Ana Botelho, Piper Jons and Reese Webster broke a 16-year-old conference meet mark with a time of 44.91 seconds. Webster became Elon’s first-ever CAA champion in the 100 meters with a time of 11.70.
Elon’s Leandra Lorenz won gold in the 1,500 meters for the second year in a row with a time of 4:36.60, barely ahead of teammate Jette Beermann (4:37.61). Lorenz used a late kick to claim her second gold medal, winning the 5,000 for the second consecutive season in a time of 16:33.61.
Western Alamance alum Lauryn Carlton of Elon was 15th in the discus (130 feet, 1 inch) and 16th in the shot put (41-7).
Baseball
Elon won two of three games against North Carolina A&T in the final home series of the regular season to stay in contention for the CAA title.
Parker Haskin capped his Senior Day at Latham Park with his first home run since March 2022 and he scored three runs in Sunday’s 9-6 victory at Latham Park. Cole Reynolds drove in three runs.
Justin Cassella of Elon was the co-CAA Player of the Week, batting 8-for-16 with two home runs, two doubles and eight runs batted in.
Going into the final weekend of the regular season, Elon (30-20, 17-9) is in third place. But four teams – also Northeastern, UNC Wilmington, and College of Charleston – are all within one game of the top spot. Elon plays three games at Hofstra later this week.
A week ago Tuesday, Elon lost 13-7 to visiting High Point. That was the final scheduled non-conference game for the Phoenix, which received a two-run home run from Tanner Holliman.
Earlier this month, on May 6 and 7 at Annapolis, Maryland, Elon split two non-conference games with Navy.
The Phoenix posted two ninth-inning runs for a 3-1 victory in the first game. Holliman’s second run-scoring single of the game drove in the winning run. Elon then lost 8-5 despite Connor Coolahan’s run-scoring double and two-run home run.
Elon has eclipsed its 27-win mark from a season ago.
Softball
At Hempstead, New York, fourth-seeded Elon lost twice on the same day last week and was eliminated from the CAA Tournament.
The Phoenix fell 7-4 to Towson and then dropped a 2-1 decision in eight innings to Stony Brook. It’s the first CAA Tournament since 2016 that Elon (22-26) didn’t win at least one game.
Southern Alamance alum Isley Duggins (5-10) suffered the loss in the Towson game.
The previous week at Greensboro, Elon swept a three-game series from North Carolina A&T to finish the regular season with a 12-7 mark in the CAA. Chloe Hatzopoulos homered twice in a 10-5 victory in the series finale. Duggins was the winning pitcher, while allowing two runs in four innings. Elon has won 12 in a row vs. the Aggies (17-33, 10-14).
