Over the weekend, the track and field team competed at the Rutgers Invite hosted at the NYC Armory along with East Stroudsburg University’s DeSchriver Invitational.
Despite the team not bringing home any first-place finishes, five athletes had top-10 performances for the program. For the women, sophomore Maeve Waldron’s time of 58.07 in the 400-meter race was number eight all-time, while fellow sophomore Elizabeth Borah’s 5:06.78 in the mile placed her at number 10 all-time.
On the second day of competition, freshman Ida Moczerniuk rose to number four all-time in the 200-meter as she finished at 25.44. Senior Emma Lorey reached number five all-time with a time of 10:04.33 in the 3000-meter.
For the men, junior A.J. Sanford’s blistering 4:14.87 mile secured number seven all-time.
In her first 800-meter race, freshman hurdler/jumper Abbey Nichols finished in second place at 2:35.10. While it seemed daunting at first, she learned a lot from the new experience.
“That was a little scary to approach,” she said. “It was a good experience. I had already competed in four races, but I was ready to muscle up and get through the race. I’ve never run in any of those so there was definitely a learning curve, but I think there were a lot of points to take into the masters. It was fun.”
As the indoor season progresses to its later stages, the team is focused on its goals. The team has created a board of individual goals that hangs at the track.
“As a team just seeing each other’s goals, we are able to encourage each other and work towards [the goals] we’re setting,” Nichols said.
Sophomore distance runner Justin Brown also learned from the competition, competing in his first indoor 5000m race. In a display that was as mentally demanding as it was physically, he came in at 15:21.48. The race also had implications for the future.
“I tried to keep as calm in my mind as I could for as long as possible,” he wrote in an email. “I feel that I did put all that I had into the race, and impressed myself with how hard I was able to battle even when I started to feel extremely fatigued throughout the later stages of the race. I do feel that I made some errors both mentally and physically and that I have a lot more to give in this event, but I also know that this will come with experience in the event.”
At the DeSchriver Invitational, sophomore Liam Downey placed seventh in the men’s shot with a throw of 46′ 0.25″. He is also excited for what the future holds.
“I did throw the shot put, but what is fascinating about throwing is that it is hard to really think about what you are doing while you throw,” he wrote in an email. “I am content with my performance. There is a lot of room to improve before the indoor season is over and the outdoor season starts. Every meet is an opportunity to learn and improve.”
The team will compete in the Fast Track Invite and the Big Apple Invitational this weekend.
“I am proud of this team and I really believe we can really make a voice for ourselves in the Patriot League,” Downey wrote.