The Rensselaer track and field team concluded their 2004 indoor season spring break week at the ECAC and NCAA championship meets. The women’s team placed ninth in the ECAC meet held on Saturday March 5, and the men’s team took 10th place. On Saturday March 13, the individuals who qualified for the National Meet were also quite successful.
Scoring for the women’s team during the ECAC meet were some of the team’s top performing athletes of the season. In the sprint events, freshman Jen Dias captured sixth place in the 400m dash in the time of 59.97 and also helped teammates Rebecca Lock, Alyssa Coffey, and Alysia Evanitsky place sixth in the 1600m relay with a combined time of 4:01.36.
In the field events, freshman Carol Scalice won the long jump with a mark of 5.38m and Senior Allison Benson placed fifth in a three way tie for pole vault with a height of 3.22m. Also contributing to the team’s score of 33 points were freshman Sue Madden placing third in the shot put with 13.33m and sophomore Felicia Tsai placing second in weight throw with 15.74m.
In the ECAC meet, the men’s team had several athletes scoring in their events as well, earning their total team score of 26.5 points. Senior Derek McGough scored for the team in the sprint events by placing sixth in the 55m dash in 6.65. In the mid-distance and distance events scoring athletes included Joe Otto who won the 1000m run with the time of 2:30.74 and Marty Blatz who placed fifth in the 800m run in the time of 1:56.93.
Finally, in the field events, McGough scored a second time for the team by placing seventh in the long jump with a mark of 6.60m, Jason Langly placed tied for sixth in the pole vault with a height of 4.41m, and Jack Miller took eighth place in the weight throw with 16.02m. Completing the team’s score was Okechuku Ekwuabu who took sixth place in the pentathlon with a total of 2967 points.
The four athletes who qualified for the NCAA meet also had outstanding individual performances which finished up their indoor season. These four included: Otto, Dwaine Alleyne, Benson, and Tsai. At the championships both, Otto, a junior who placed fourth in the 800m event in the time of 1:54.68 and senior Alleyne who captured second place in the triple jump with a mark of 14.76m, earned All-American honors.
On the women’s team, senior Benson placed 13th in pole vault with a height of 3.34m and Tsai, a sophomore, competed in the trials for the weight throw with a her best mark being 14.47m.
Also adding to the excitement of the indoor season, the team’s head coach, Colin Tory was named the 2004 National Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. Congratulations to both Tory and the team for their hard work and outstanding performances throughout the season which included several new school records.
