John Barkely, Chris Doniski Strike Gold at the MAC Championship Meet 

Chester, PA - Senior John Barkley and freshman Chris Donisi each won gold to lead Albright at the MAC Outdoor Championship meet Thursday through Saturday on the campus of Widener University. 

 Barkley came back from an injury-plagued senior season with a win in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.  He crossed the finish line in 9:46.99 to capture the first MAC Championship of his highly successful career. 

While Barkley was putting the finishing touches on his distinguished four seasons at Albright, Donisi writing the first chapter of what promises to be a big career of his own.  In his first MAC Outdoor Championship meet Donisi won the long jump, an event he has dominated throughout the outdoor season, with a leap of 22’ 8” to beat his closest competitor by seven inches and take home the gold medal.

Junior Brianne Genter turned in a great effort in the women’s sprints for the Lady Lions, as she placed second in the 200 meter dash in 26.98 seconds and third in the 100 meter dash in 13.16 seconds.  Freshman Dwight Savoy placed in three events in the meet.  Savoy’s best finish was a fourth in the 110 meter hurdles, which he completed in 16.87 seconds.  He tied for fourth in the high jump with teammate Justin Jones, as both Lions cleared 5’ 9 ¾”, and also took seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 41’ ¼”.  Junior Ryan Thomas was second in the hammer throw, coming up with a long throw of 137’ 8”. 

Senior Becca White and freshman Shannon Finley were also double-place winners in the meet, with White doing her work in the distance runs while Finley placed in both hurdles events.  White earned a fifth-place finish in the 10,000 meter run Thursday night with a time of 40:37.24, then took sixth in the 5,000 meter run on Saturday in 19:12.36.  Finley was sixth in the 400 meter hurdles, crossing the line in 1:12.55, and also took eighth in the 100 meter hurdles in 16.93 seconds.  

Completing the list of place-winners in the meet for Albright are De’on Mallory in the triple jump (4^th), Jo Jo Ward in the 10,000 meter run (6^th), Meghan Loos in the 400 meter dash (7^th), Renisha Conway in the long jump (8^th), and Christie Weist in the hammer throw (8^th).  For the Albright men, Ryan Bausch captured fifth in the triple jump, while Justin Plummer and Tony Pellegrino were seventh and eighth in the shot put. 

Both the men and women also scored valuable team points in the relay events.  The Lady Lions finished fifth in the 4 x 100 meter relay and sixth in the 4 x 400 meter relay, while the men also placed fifth in the 4 x 100 and took seventh in the 4 x 400.  In the overall team competitions, both the Albright men and women finished sixth in the meet.