In front of a strong home crowd up at Harkness Track & Field, the men’s team was able to take first and become Liberty League champs for the third year in a row. A surprising set of finishes for the throwers helped propel RPI ahead of St. Lawrence late in the meet. During the meet, the runners don’t have contact with the throwers, so the good news surprised those down on the track. “We heard the score and we were way out in front; it was basically because the throws were dominating,” senior captain Matt Haringa said of the win. “It was almost unexpected,” junior distance runner Bobby Bloor added.
Starting off cool and ending in sunshine, “Everyone ran closer to their potential than we’ve had all year” said Haringa of the “beautiful day for a track meet.” In fact the Engineers captured 4 Liberty League awards this weekend. Juniors Kemar Brown and Jen Dias again took Track Performer of the Week while senior Lance Chase and junior Sue Madden took the Field Performer of the Week.
Brown won the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.92 and the 200-meter in 21.84. He also added speed to the 4x100 relay team finishing relay team.
Dias won four events to finish her best weekend yet. Her time of 1:02.54 in the 400-meter hurdles was an NCAA provisional qualifying time and a school record; she also won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.06, and helped the 4x100 and 4x400 relays in 49.40 and 4:05.82.
Chase led the big throws with an NCAA provisionally qualifying distances of 15.59 and 52.11 meters in the shot put and hammer toss. He also won the discus with a throw of 46.91 meters for a 2 meter PR.
Madden also provisionally qualified in the shot put with her throw of 13.05 meters. She also finished second in the discus hurl.
When the throws went up against the big guys from St. Lawrence during the indoor season, they lost badly. “We couldn’t contribute to the team as much…St. Lawrence had big kids” recalls junior captain Jeremy Burnham. But in outdoor there’s Hammer throw and especially discus where form not just brawn matter. “We all had very solid days with two PRs in shot, one in disc and a solid one in hammer- and we held up in the track events” explained Burnham of the surprising win. “It was just one of those days in shot. The first guy does well, then the second and the excitement just builds on itself. That doesn’t happen too often in the throws- the most fun I’ve had in a long time” he continued. “My first two went out of bounds, and then the third was a huge PR” was the story of the weekend for the Burnham and the other successful weightmen.
The 4x400 was also of note as freshman Brian Rautio ran an amazing leg anchoring the relay. “Brian Rautio had an amazing come back…he was at least 15 meters behind the Hamilton College runner, and managed to beat him with less than 5 meters to go in the race, to win the relay for RPI” describes junior captain Katie Hammond.
“I got him at the line” Bloor said of his second place edging of St. Lawrence’s multiple-time All-American John French in the 3000-meter steeplechase. “He didn’t know anyone was behind him. So when I passed him, he turned around and shouted a profanity and tried to catch me, he couldn’t though. He knocked over a water-cooler after the race” he finished. The win was apparently as much a surprise and shock for the perennial powerhouse St. Lawrence as it was for RPI’s team.
This week will start the taper of the runners as they aim to stay healthy and peak for the state meet at the end of the month. In two weeks the teams return to Harkness Field and hope to see a big home crowd out supporting the Liberty League Champs.
