The UR men’s and women’s track and field team traveled to Syracuse University for the annual Syracuse University Invitational this weekend.
Both varsity and club teams from around the state were invited to compete at the meet.
The meet was scored individually, as opposed to the traditional team scoring method.
On the men’s side, personal records were broken in many events.
Sophomore Craig Baumgartner had a personal best in the 3K, running the race in 8:59.78 for a 12th-place finish.
Freshman Jamie Vavra placed ninth in the same race, also breaking a personal record and finishing in 8:56.69.
Both men notched times under nine minutes for the first time in their careers.
Senior Dan Chebot set a personal record this weekend. He ran a 4:30.46 in the 1-mile race to finish in 15th place.
In the 5K run, UR men took second and third.
Sophomore Jon Pinto was the runner-up and finished with a time of 15:49.74.
Freshman Jason Zayac was close behind him, crossing the finish line at 15:53.84.
Overall, the men are focused on hitting qualifying times for the upcoming championship meets. Both the New York State and Eastern College Athletic Conference championships are coming up in the next few weeks.
Though the team still has other races to run before these two meets, its main focus is the state meets.
‘We’re looking forward to running some fast times on a really nice track at the Boston University Invite,” Baumgartner said. ‘We’re also looking to hopefully win the state conference for indoor and outdoor.”
Many solid finishes were recorded for the women, as well, this weekend.
Senior Jamie Landry finished fifth in the pentathlon with a score of 2,914 points.
In the weight throw, senior Jonelle Redhead finished first with a throw of 15.14 meters. She also placed 13th in the shot put with a put of 10.04 meters.
Junior Sarah Gollub finished third in the 5K run with a time of 19:33.98.
Sophomore Jacqueline Cinella finished fourth in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:19.47, and senior Latoya Dunbar finished fourth in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.54 seconds.
Not only did the teams perform well at the Syracuse Invitational this weekend, but they also excelled at the past two nondual meets of the season.
The men placed fourth out of 11 teams at the Saint Lawrence University Invitational earlier this season, and they tied for eighth place out of 18 teams at the Colgate University Invitational two weeks ago.
The women’s performances were no less solid.
They finished third out of 10 teams at the SLU Invitational. The women placed third out of 15 teams at the Colgate Invitational, falling only to Colgate and Binghamton University, both of which are Division I schools.
With such positive work ethic and strong performances, the outlook for the championship meets is bright.
Rogers is a member of the class of 2012.
