Men’s track and field team secures UAA title; women finish sixth

Over the weekend, the Carnegie Mellon track and field teams competed at the University Athletic Association (UAA) championships at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Although the women’s team finished in sixth place out of seven teams, the men’s team narrowly edged out Emory University to claim the championship. The women’s team finished with 42 points, while the men’s team had 168 points.

Led by the 4x800-meter relay team, the Tartan men’s team dominated many of the running and field events. The relay team won the 4x800, setting a new UAA record of 7:44.74. In the 110-meter hurdles, senior Nick Bannister also took first place with a time of 14.97. Sophomore Craig Hahn (56.31) and senior Jeff Polack (57.02) finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles.

Senior Eric Tang (10.99) took second in the 100-meter dash, while senior Russel Verbofsky took third in the 200-meter dash (22.25) and fifth in the 400-meter dash (49.75). In the 800-meter run, senior Davey Quinn placed third with a time of 1:55.62.

“We won the 4x800-meter relay and we were pretty excited about that,” sophomore Brian Harvey said. “We all ran our best races of the season. All of our field events performed extremely well, and in the 100-meter, Eric Tang took a surprising second place. That definitely helped our team.”

Harvey ran a personal best, winning the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:51.35. Behind Harvey, junior Drew Miller finished seventh with a time of 3:59.07. Harvey also placed sixth in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:06.16.

In the 10,000-meter run, first-year Dario Donatelli (32.23.15) and sophomore Andrew Frederickson (32.37.87) finished fifth and seventh, respectively. Sophomore Ryan Anderson took fifth in the steeplechase with a time of 9:36.29.

Tang took first in both the triple jump and long jump. Tang reached 13.81 meters in the triple jump and 6.75 meters in the long jump. Sophomore Joel Palko finished fourth in the long jump (6.75 meters) and seventh in the triple jump (12.75 meters). Sophomore Colin Marks (1.77 meters) took eighth in the high jump, while first-year Chris Bridgeman (4.00 meters) placed fourth in the pole vault. Senior Edwin Uber finished sixth behind Bridgeman with a jump of 3.85 meters.

In the throwing events, first-year James Hulley won both the shot put (14.71 meters) and discus throw (42.54 meters). Sophomore Chris Fornataro (38.17 meters) finished in eighth place in the discus throw. In the hammer throw, Mike Reggie took first with a season-best throw of 49.63 meters. Senior Rory Kaclik came in eighth with a throw of 39.10 meters. Junior Chris Uhrinek finished sixth in the javelin throw with a throw of 48.77 meters.

The 4x100-meter relay team placed third with a time of 43.00, and the Tartans secured the championship title with a fourth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay (3:24.31).

“We didn’t know we were going to win until the last event, 4x400-meter relay,” Harvey said. “It was only in the last 100-meters that we knew were going to win [the championship].”

For the women’s team, first-year Diane Mattingly finished third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:07.56, and junior Ashley Bakelmun took eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:39.76.

Sophomore Jessica Meng took fourth in the high jump with a jump of 1.53 meters. Meng also finished seventh in the triple jump with a jump of 10.54 meters.

In the pole vault, first-year Anna Lenhart placed sixth with a vault of 2.70 meters.

Senior Becky Metler won the hammer throw with a throw of 46.09 meters. Metler also placed eighth in the discus throw (34.23 meters).

Senior Lizza McGregor threw for 28.01 meters to finish sixth in the javelin throw. The 4x400-meter relay team (4:08.43) finished in fourth place, while the 4x100-meter relay team took seventh (53.18).

“The women’s team missed some points by one or two places, but everybody ran pretty well,” Bakelmun said. “I’m really excited for the [men’s team]. They had some great performances.”

The men’s team win is the first outdoor UAA championship title in over 10 years. Although the track and field teams’ seasons are winding down, some members of the teams will compete throughout May at Dr. Keeler, Baldwin Wallace Twilight, and the NCAA championships.