The RPI men’s track team played host to MIT and WPI in the annual Engineers’ Cup this past Saturday. The Engineers, powered by a strong throwing performance, won with a total of 178.5 points to beat out MIT (162.0) and WPI (46.5).
While RPI had a good showing in almost every event, certain ones were key in the accumulation of points. These included the 100-meter dash, the steeple chase, the shot put, and the discus.
In the 100-meter dash, Dan McGough took first with a mark of 11.26 seconds to lead a pack of RPI runners placing in the race. The Engineers swept the third through seventh spots to rack up 17 points in the event.
During the steeple chase, the Engineers swept the top three spots as Justin Jablonowski (9:41.50 minutes) placed first, followed by Greg Holden (9:50.8 minutes) and Keith Weiss (9:57.6 minutes). This event added 16 more points to the RPI total.
The Engineers, led by Bill Monette (15.55 m), claimed the top four spots in the shot put and also won the sixth slot to collect 20 points. Joining Monette were Tom Fassel (14.12 m), Nathan Doyle (13.95 m), Mike Johnson (13.49 m), and Jack Miller (11.92 m).
The discus was also dominated by Rensselaer as they took first place in addition to third through fifth. Monette (50.24 m) led the way once again and was followed by Josh Black (40.76 m), Craig Lewis (39.15 m), and Doyle (38.11 m). In all, RPI added another 17 points to their total.
Rensselaer also won several spots in the high jump. Ian Gilhooly (1.88 m) took second and Jonathan Currie (1.63 m), Dwayne Alleyne (1.57m) and Paul Salasznyk (1.57 m) won fourth and tied for fifth respectively.
The RPI Engineers also placed high in several other events. McGough (6.52 m) won the long jump while Frank Donaldson (6.25 m) placed third. McGough (13.10 m) also won second in the triple jump and was joined by Marcus Ciuryla (12.65m), Dwane Sterling (12.63 m) and Sharath Alampur (12.58 m) who placed in the fourth through sixth spots. Black (54.13 m) won the hammer and Monette (49.49 m) took third. In the javelin, Raffa (48.52 m) claimed the top spot and Clifton Gibson (45.06 m) took second. Paul Salasznyk (55.70 seconds) won the 400-meter hurdles and the relay teams won the 4x100-meter and placed second in the 1600-meter.
Overall, it was a strong performance for the Engineers, and the win avenged last year’s loss to MIT.
This coming weekend the Engineers will compete in the UCAA championships to be held at Union.
