2022-23 Winter Preview: Women's Indoor Track & Field Has Fun Combo of Youth, Vets

12/2/2022 2:59:00 PM | By: Garrett Siegel, Senior Staff Writer

The 2022-23 Blue Streaks have plenty of youth along to pair with a number of returning All-OAC performers.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS -- The John Carroll Women's Track & Field program is coming off their best finish ever in cross country at the NCAA Division III Championships. The Blue Streaks captured the Regional Championship and Ohio Athletic Conference Championship in an impressive season.

Meanwhile, the track team has been working very hard. Head Coach Kyle Basista believes they are stronger as a unit working together and pushing each other to those new heights.

"We're stronger together when we work together. We have a youthful women's team, and a lot of freshmen sprinkled across different events. I'm excited to see our youth and energy. We've been working towards this all fall," said Basista, the eighth-year head coach.

In the throws, graduate student and standout Kelsey Dunn is back alongside fellow returner Cara Jewett. This is one of the very young groups on the team with an expectation to meet the standard set in previous years.

Genevieve Arnold returns as one of the most capable sprinters in the conference and region. Victoria Miller is hoping to have a breakout season, as she has been putting in a lot of work in the offseason.

Senior Taylor Anthony is looking to jump back to the top of the conference, and will be a big veteran presence with the graduation of maybe the best sprinter in JCU history, Lucia Cannata. Anthony's off the charts talent will be exciting to watch this year.

Rosie Murray, Ella Zambruno, Paige Munchick are all young rising stars hopeful of contributing.

Caroline Beery is looking to return in the pole vault, as she is the school's record holder in both indoor and outdoor for the event. Beery has battled a lot of adversity and injury, and is looking to be 100% going into the season.

Claire Eberhardt and Elizabeth Kitsmiller will headline the mid-distance, as they are experienced and near the top of the conference. Michaela Bryan and Sydney Wingler are also emerging names to keep an eye on throughout the season.

Erica Esper will once again be the leader of the distance group. Sydney Jenko, Abby Schroff, and Jen Massucci are also expected to be key contributors over the course of the coming months. Schroff was OAC Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year and is looking to ride that momentum into the indoor season.

"Overall, we expect mid distance and distance to be an area of strength and depth, said Basista. "We have another good, balanced team across the board, with a large and hungry freshmen class."

The 2022-23 Blue Streaks are younger than the program might have seen in the past, but are hopeful to be able to push the standard beyond what it has been. While they won the 2021 Indoor OAC Title, last year they were defeated by powerhouse Mount Union. The John Carroll team is hungry, and now the leaders know what both victory and defeat feel like, and will look to have another stellar season.

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