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Marquette track and field made history on Saturday, as both the men's and the women's teams brought home the 2016 Big East Outdoor Track & Field team titles. It's the first team win in the outdoor meet for both squads, while the women doubled up on their indoor title that they won in late February.
The men's team dominated the seven squad field, earning a total of 246 points to easily outpace second place Villanova, who finished with 179 points. It was a little tighter on the women's end of things, as Marquette picked up 196 points to finish atop the eight team standings, while Villanova finished second there as well with a matching 179 points.
The strength of Marquette's team was the field events, as the two squads combined to win seven individual titles. The men got first place finishes in the pole vault (William Ford), long jump (Dwayne Dash, Jr.), javelin (John Krzyszkowski), and high jump (Wally Ellenson), while the women bested the field in the high jump (Omo Tseumah), pole vault (Nicole Jaffke), and shot put (Maya Marion).
Marquette also got wins in the men's 4x100 meter relay from the team of Joshua Word, Karl Tatum, Connor Boos, and Brandon Bell, along with a decathlon title from William Eggers. The women's team got a multi-event win, too, as Monique Felix won the heptathlon.
Those were the individual event victories for the Golden Eagles, but it was a full team effort that guided the squads to the top. Marquette had the largest student-athlete contingent of any school at the Spire Institute in Ohio, and they used those numbers to force the other Big East teams to the side. Given the scoring system in track and field, things like going 1-3-5-8 in the men's pole vault, or finishing 1-2-6-8 in the women's heptathlon is much better for the team score than merely having one great athlete who can win the event and that's it.
You can check out the full men's results here, while the women's final times and distances are right over here.