Among the engineers of the northeast, the men and women of RPI can hold their own—at least on the track and in the field. This past weekend, the team traveled to Worcester for the Engineers Cup to take on the WPI and MIT track & field teams. Both teams finished a close second, but several individuals stood out.
Once again, the team nearly swept the Liberty League weekly awards with five athletes earning them this week. For the men, junior Kemar Brown again took home the title of Track Performer of the Week for winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes. He also ran on the winning 4x100-meter relay that finished with a time of 43.66. Rookie Performer of the Week was again freshman sprinter Brain Rautio. He took second in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.72 and was also on the winning 4x100-meter relay.
The women award-winners were led by senior Felicia Tsai who again broke her own record to set the school mark at 53.29 meters in the weight throw and was awarded the Field Performer of the Week. Junior sprinter Jen Dias was Track Performer for the third straight week for taking the 100 - and 200-meter dashes, setting the school record time of 15.37 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and assisting the winning 4x400 relay team. Rookie Performer of the Week Ashley Aust won the 400-meter run with a time of 1:02.9 and helped the victorious 4x400 relay.
In the 5000-meter run, junior Greg Mariano not only won but also qualified for the ECAC Championship with his time of 15:33.06. Mariano worked with freshman teammate Chris Donais, and praised his pace. “With three to go, I just passed everyone. I don’t know if I could have done it without him, though. It felt good to finally beat the MIT guys in the 5k” said Mariano of his race. He beat his personal best by a massive 32 seconds, and was well ahead of the runner-up from MIT. The ECAC Championships are held two weeks after the state meet.
Injuries continue to plague the team. This week, sophomore Justin Schievelbein pulled his hamstring in a sprint, and is possibly out for the season. Had sophomore sprinter Marian Albert been able to race, senior captain Matt Haringa is confident that the women would have won their meet.
Haringa was disappointed in his own race, “Those guys controlled the race. MIT had a stronger race strategy.” Inconsistent laps were his main concern, but next weekend RPI is hosting the Liberty Leagues and he’ll have a chance to face off against friendly rival St. Lawrence.
Straight from swimming, sophomore Nat Southwick’s 17:01.04 in the 5000-meter run left Haringa, “Incredibly impressed” and Mariano felt that the race was huge for him. Junior Bobby Bloor, who has been very consistent over the course of the season, also continued his string of good races coming in 10th in the same race.
This weekend the Engineers host the Liberty League Championship at Harkness Track and Field.
