St. Joe’s Crystal Benito is the 2nd-fastest freshman 400 runner ni the Atlantic 10 after her indoor PR 57.19 Sunday at the Ott Center.
Benito placed 5th in the 400 at the Penn Invitational in the same race that Washington Township graduate Dylan Giloley ran 56.30 to break the Rider indoor 400 record.
Benito never ran indoor track in high school. She ran 61.91 at the Ott early last month in her first lifetime indoor race, then dropped to 59.09 again at the Ott in her 2nd indoor race. So that 57.19 was a nearly two-second indoor PR for Benito.
Reagan Garibaldi of Rhode Island leads the Atlantic 10 with a 56.10 from Boston University last month, and she’s the only faster feshman in the conference. Overall, Benito is 8th-fastest in the A-10 this year.
According to St. Joe’s web site, that 57.19 is 5th-fastest in St. Joe’s history and fastest in seven years, since Caroline Duffy of Methacton High in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pa., set the school-record 54.86 at 2019 ECACs at Boston University.
Benito ran within 2-100ths of a second of the St. Joe’s freshman record of 57.17 set at Ocean Breeze in 2016 by Kelly Liebel of Ephrata, Pa.
Benito ran her outdoor PR 56.50 at Delsea this past May. She won the County Open, placed 2nd in South Jersey Group 1 Sectionals at Pennsauken and 3rd at states in Somerest. Benito also ran 2:18.87 at Maple Shade, but she hasn’t run a college 800 yet.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 