ST. MARY’S CITY — St. Mary’s College of Maryland juniors Savannah Owens and Jillian Zukley earned United East Conference Women’s Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week awards Tuesday, Dec. 9, following standout performances at the season-opening Christopher Newport University Holiday Open.
Owens, a sprinter from Frederick and Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, claimed Track Athlete of the Week honors for the first time in her career. Zukley, a thrower from Severna Park High School, collected her fifth career Field Athlete of the Week award.
The Seahawks opened the 2025-26 indoor season Dec. 6 at the Captains’ facility in Newport News, Va., where both athletes delivered school-record performances.
Owens returned to competition after a one-year absence and immediately rewrote the St. Mary’s record book in the 600 meters. The 5-foot-5 junior finished second overall with a time of 1:44.22, eclipsing the previous program mark of 1:49.93 set by teammate Avery Arizzi in December 2023. Owens also took third in the 800 meters in 2:35.81 and anchored the Seahawks’ 4×400-meter relay to a fourth-place finish.
Her 800-meter time currently leads the United East Conference, and she ranks 18th in the Mid-Atlantic region according to early-season performance lists maintained by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Zukley wasted no time asserting dominance in the throwing events. The 6-foot-3 junior won the shot put with a mark of 11.67 meters and followed with a runner-up finish in the weight throw at 15.11 meters — a new St. Mary’s record that surpassed her own previous best of 13.79 meters from January 2025.
The weight throw performance provisionally qualified Zukley for the 2026 All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference Championships scheduled for March 6-7. She enters the holiday break leading the United East in both the shot put and weight throw while ranking fourth regionally in the weight throw and sixth in the shot put.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland competes as a member of the United East Conference, which sponsors 20 championship sports and includes nine full-time institutions across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. The Seahawks’ women’s indoor track and field program returned to varsity status in the 2022-23 academic year after a long hiatus.
The team will not compete again until Jan. 9, 2026, when it travels to the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y., for the Spartan Invitational hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas College. Events are scheduled to begin at noon.
