The men&s track and field team jump-started its season after snow cancelled the first two meets, scoring 226 points to beat SUNY Oswego, Hamilton College and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
&It was a meet of discovery, to see where we are at this stage of the outdoor season,& coach John Izzo said. &Now we can make plans for the future.&
Junior Justin Lamon-tagne fell into a winning stride, taking the 110-meter high hurdles in 49.86 seconds and the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 55.87 seconds. The time in the 400-meter hurdles qualifies him for both the New York State and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.
Lamontagne also led the winning 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams. Senior co-captain Jon Coyles, sophomore Brian Strandberg and senior Andy Locke rounded out the 4×100 team that won in 43.28 seconds.
The 4×400 team 8212; which included senior co-captain Sam Albert, junior Damien Leonard and Coyles 8212; finished in three minutes and 27 seconds, placing first.
Coyles finished second in the 400-meter race in 49.86 seconds to qualify for the NYS and ECAC Championships. He also ran the 200-meter race in 23.01 seconds to place third.
Locke finished second in both the 100 meters with 11.46 seconds and the 200 meters with 23.00 seconds.
&Our senior leadership is absolutely tops,& Izzo said. &We&re where we are today because our seniors have modeled the kind of attitude that&s necessary for success.&
Junior Ayaz Abdulla finished second in the long jump with a leap of 20 feet 3 inches and jumped 42 feet and 2.75 inches to place second in the triple jump. Freshman Greg Dusek took third place in both events.
&Our jumpers and middle distance runners had just an average day,& Izzo said. &But that was still good enough for seconds and thirds, which bodes well for the future.&
Sophomore Dave Messen-heimer qualified for the NYS and ECAC Championships by winning the 5,000-meter run in 15:24.64.
Sophomore J.C. Rondash jumped 14 feet and 1.25 inches to win the pole vault and qualify for States and ECACs.
Sophomore Peter Kann-berg won the hammer throw with a distance of 129 feet and seven inches, placing third in the shot put with a toss of 38 feet, five inches.
Freshman Jacob Budny finished second in the discus with a throw of 129 feet to qualify for States. He also placed second in the shot put with a distance of 39 feet and 1/4 inch.
&Under the conditions, the way we performed was extraordinary,& Lamon-tagne said. &You couldn&t have picked a worse day to run track, and we still posted some of the best performances in the state.&
Lamontagne expects the team&s depth to help the Yellowjackets win the state championship title and send some athletes to nationals.
&We have a really deep team and that will help us when it comes to championship time,& Coyles said. &We have a good chance of beating all of the local teams and doing well in our upcoming meets.&
The Yellowjackets will host the UR Alumni Invitational Saturday. Twelve teams, along with open individuals, will compete, which starts at 11 a.m.
