After a rough meet at Cornell University on Saturday, Feb. 16, the track and field teams came back at full force this weekend, producing impressive performances across the board.
While most of the team traveled back to Cornell for the Deneault Invitational, the most notable performance came from junior Jamie Landry, who took the crown in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Pentathlon Championships at St. Lawrence University. Winning two events helped to propel her score to 2,936 points. Landry placed first in the high jump by clearing the bar set at 1.59 meters. In addition, she tied for the top spot in the long jump, measuring in at 4.93 meters. Although Landry did not finish first in the 55-meter hurdles, her time of 9.21 seconds for second place gave her more points than any other event in which she participated. In the last two events of the series of five, Landry placed third in the shot put with a distance of 9.39 meters and ninth in the 800 with a time of 2:52.82.
Sophomore Kyra Pinsky also experienced success at St. Lawrence, placing sixth in the pentathlon with a score of 2,406 points. She tied for fifth in the high jump, clearing 1.38 meters and placed sixth in three events. Pinsky took the sixth spot in the 55 hurdles with a time of 10.08 seconds, the shot put with a throw of 7.82 meters and the long jump with a distance of 4.52 meters. Pinsky’s and Landry’s finishes at the event on Saturday give the women’s team 13 points going into the rest of the NYSCTC Championships, which will be held this weekend.
At the Deneault Invitational, there were multiple notable finishes from the women’s team. Senior Anjuli Cherukuri had the best individual performance, placing third in the pole vault by clearing 3.30 meters. In other field events, sophomore Melissa Skevington placed sixth in the triple jump, recording a distance of 10.67 meters.
In the running events, sophomore Lisa Cole matched Cherukuri’s placement for the best on the team, finishing third in the 1-mile run in 5:16.23. Sophomore Suzanne Giunta crossed the line at seventh in the same event, finishing in 5:32.01.
Freshman Casey Green represented the sprinters well with a fourth-place finish in the 60 with a time of 8.01 seconds. Senior Stacie Woods finished similarly, coming in fifth in the 400 in 1:02.52. Sophomore Prashanthi Chodagiri was right behind her, with only a half of a second between the two. Chodagiri was sixth in the 400, crossing the line at 1:03.03.
The relay teams also saw success, as the 4×800 relay team took second, clocking in at 10:08.67, and the 4×400 team placed fourth with a time of 4:13.88.
The men’s team had some outstanding performances at Cornell, as well. Most notable was senior Mike Burgstrom’s 18.53-meter throw in the weight throw, which automatically qualified him for the NCAA Division III Championships, something he has been working toward all season. Ironically, this was only the second time this year that he has not finished first in the event. His throw placed him second overall.
In addition to Burgstrom’s qualification, several of his teammates qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships. Freshman Andrew Lee completed the 500 with a time of 1:07.69 for a spot at fourth. In addition, junior Malik Sams qualified in the 60 hurdles, clocking in at 8.54 seconds for another finish in fourth. Junior Dan Chebot qualified in distance running, crossing the line of the 3,000 event in 8:57.21 for 10th place.
In the field events, junior Travis Buttaccio had a season-best long jump at 6.55 meters. This jump put him second overall in the event.
The men’s team also had two participators in the NYSCTC Pentathlon Championships. While neither team member earned points for the Yellowjackets, junior Kevin Easton finished third in the high jump event when he cleared 1.83 meters, which qualified him to participate in the NYSCTC Championship meet in the high jump event this weekend.
All qualifiers for the NYSCTC Championship meet will travel to St. Lawrence University this weekend. The women enter the event in first place thanks to the 13 points from Landry and Pinsky. Last year, the women placed eighth of 16 teams and the men placed fifth of 15.
Phibrick is a member of the class of 2009.
