CMU takes 2nd, 6th at track and field championships

This weekend, the Carnegie Mellon men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the University of Chicago in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Overall, the men’s team finished second out of seven competing schools, and the women’s team finished sixth.

The men’s team was led by its strong throwers, as it was all season. In the shot put, senior Zachary Erra-Hernandez continued his dominating season, taking home first place with a 15.80-meter throw that was 1.38 meters further than the runner up. Senior Nathan Cheek also continued performing well as he finished in fourth place with a 13.79-meter throw.

Cheek and Erra-Hernandez continued in the discus event, where they finished second and third with throws of 44.73 and 44.32 meters, respectively. They switched places in the hammer throw, where Erra-Hernandez finished second with a 52.19-meter throw and Cheek took home third with a 46.56-meter toss.

The Tartans had another two-three finish in the javelin throw. First-year Jacob Brooks took second with a 53.38-meter throw, with Cheek in third place at 53.14 meters.

The Tartans also performed well in the other field events, with junior Mike McDermott finishing second in the high jump, leaping 1.89 meters. He also took fourth in the pole vault by clearing the 4.27-meter bar.

In the long jump, the Tartans took home third- and fifth-place finishes, with first-years Don Boyer and Matthew Seifu finishing with jumps of 6.69 meters and 6.51 meters, respectively.

Carnegie Mellon had a tougher time in the track events. First-year Andrew Chang had a very good day, finishing third in the 200-meter dash — crossing the line in 21.97 seconds — and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles — finishing in 15.68 seconds.

The 110-meter hurdles were dominated by Carnegie Mellon, as Chang was just one of four Tartans in the eight-person finals.

Sophomore Ben Neiman finished third with a time of 15.59. Boyer and first-year Matthew Sheh finished sixth and eighth, with times of 16.14 and 16.46, respectively.

In the 800-meter run, junior Thomas Vandenberg finished in first place with a time of 1:53.68, and in the 400-meter hurdle, senior Mike Standish finished in third place with a time of 54.80 seconds.

Senior Josh Newby placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:31.06.

The relay team made up of Standish, Vandenberg, first-year Owen Norely, and sophomore Marc-Daniel Julien took home first in the 4x800-meter relay and third in the 4x400-meter relay with times of 7:46.25 and 3:20.80, respectively.

The women’s team struggled in nearly all aspects of the meet, but had a couple top performers. Senior Jacqueline Guevel finished second in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, finishing with times of 15.09 and 1:03.82.

Junior Sasha Spalding placed second in the long jump with a leap of 5.47 meters. She also finished third in the shot put with a 10.49-meter throw.

In the high jump, first-year Rebecca Fortner finished in fourth place after clearing the 1.53-meter bar on her first attempt, and in the hammer throw, first-year Colette Tano finished in fourth with a 42.09-meter throw.

Both teams will next compete in Allegheny College’s Gator Invitational on May 9.