The women’s indoor track and field team edged SUNY Brockport in competition at the St. Lawrence University Invitational on Saturday, taking the championship by just 7.5 points. Five first-place finishes led the women to the victory, with each of these finishes contributing 10 points to their overall score of 136.50, which placed them at the top of the pool of eight teams.
The ‘Jackets took individual wins in four running events, and freshman sprinter Casey Green took the crown in two events. Green placed first in the 55-meter dash, squeaking by the second-place finisher with a time of 7.58 seconds to win by just 0.02. She also topped the 200-meter dash field, crossing the line in 27.01, this time well ahead of the next runner. UR’s other champion runners were senior Kellie Hasselwander, who was the first to finish the 1-mile run in 5:20.83, and sophomore Allison McComb, who led the way in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:55.44, which put her a full 18 seconds ahead of the runner-up. Sophomore Rachel Given also earned some points for the ‘Jackets in the 3,000 by placing fourth with a time of 11:36.93.
In addition to Hasselwander’s win in the mile, she placed second in the 1,000-meter run, finishing in 3:07.83. Joining her were two more distance runners who placed in the top five for the Yellowjackets. Sophomore Sadie Gollub took fourth place with a time 3:16.97, and fellow sophomore Hilary Haefner came in fifth, crossing the finish at 3:20.26. Gollub and Haefner also shared success in the mile. Gollub finished third in the event with a time of 5:35.67, and Haefner took another fifth-place finish, crossing the line in 5:38.20.
Senior Anjuli Cherukuri gave UR its final individual win, which came in the pole vault, by clearing the bar set at 3.05 meters. Freshman Kristen Fekete was runner-up, clearing 2.60. Freshman Natalie Scott also earned the ‘Jackets some points in the event by tying for sixth when she cleared 2.15.
Junior Jamie Landry contributed points in both the track and field events. She took second in both the 55-meter hurdles and in the high jump. In the hurdle event, she mastered the distance in just 9.41 seconds, and her jump of 1.53 meters gave her the runner-up spot in the high jump. Freshman Emily Gray placed seventh in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.98, and sophomore Melissa Skevington added some points to the team’s score with a sixth-place finish in the high jump with a jump of 1.43.
The relay teams also significantly contributed to the Yellowjackets, with two second-place finishes. The 4×400-meter relay team, which consisted of sophomores Prashanthi Chodagiri, Heather Graham and Lisa Cole, along with senior Stacie Woods, crossed the line in 4:15.64, while the distance medley relay team of sophomore Suzanne Giunta, Graham, junior Katie Medford and Cole finished in 12:54.97.
Other top-eight finishes came from Cole in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:26.51 to put her in third place, and Woods in the 400-meter dash, who took fifth with a time of 62.67. In the field events, sophomore Elise Scheid placed fifth in the weight throw, putting the weight at 12.38 meters, and Skevington finished sixth in the long jump, making her mark at 4.69.
While the men didn’t fare quite as well in competition, placing fifth among eight teams, the team had some impressive individual finishes. Three ‘Jackets were individual champions, and many more placed in the top eight. Overall, UR racked up 60 points, just three behind Rochester Institute of Technology, the fourth-place team.
The best finish came from senior Mike Burgstrom, who took the crown in the weight throw. Throwing 18.42 meters, he was only 0.02 away from an automatic qualification to the NCAA Championship meet. He has already secured a provisional qualifying spot in the meet.
Not only was his throw long enough to earn the win, but he was nearly two meters ahead of his next competitor in the event. Burgstrom earned the team a few more points by placing sixth in the shot put with a throw of 13.37.
In other field events, freshman Daniel Abud took third place in the pole vault by clearing the bar set at 4.25 meters, and, in the long jump, junior Travis Buttaccio made his mark at 6.33 to earn him fourth place.
The other two individual wins came in running events. In the 55-meter hurdles, junior Malik Sams was champion with a time of 7.99 seconds. The Yellowjackets had three finishers in the top eight in the 3,000-meter run. Seniors Patrick Hughes and Dan Mueller went one-two in the event with times of 8:50.58 and 8:53.66, respectively. Sophomore Tyler Stelzig came in sixth in the event with a time of 9:14.67.
In other running events, the 4×200-meter relay team placed fourth, yet was just one second behind the winning team. Senior Max Ehrmann, Buttaccio, junior Jon Antista and Sams crossed the finish at 1:36.33.
Senior Mark Stevens placed fourth in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:34.82, while freshman Jacob Tutmaher finished in 2:42.99 for eighth place.
UR also picked up eighth-place finishes in the 400-meter dash and the 1-mile run. Freshman Andrew Lee finished the 400 in 53.39, and freshman Dan Lane had a time of 4:42.64 in the mile.
This weekend, both teams will participate in the RIT Invitational on Friday afternoon, where they will continue to work toward championship qualifications.
Philbrick is a member of
the class of 2009.
