Harkness Field played host to the Capital District Classic, in which the men’s and women’s track & field teams saw strong performances in the non-scoring meet this past Saturday. In addition to RPI, 12 other schools participated in the day-long event.
Sophomore Hermanus Van Der Schijff took the top spot in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 22.19, while also finishing third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.35. Also in the track events, junior Kyle Barden finished first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.06.
RPI dominated the men’s hammer throw, taking all three podium positions. Junior Erik Whiting placed first with a distance of 49.32 meters, while sophomore Ja’Mar Watson placed second with a distance of 49.12 meters and freshman Cal Luby took third place with a mark of 45.37 meters. Freshman Sage D’Aprile stole first place in the javelin, throwing a distance of 52.82 meters and rounding out the day for the men’s team.
On the women’s team, junior Rachel Guillot took the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.08, while sophomore Danielle Cohen took top marks in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:23.89. In addition, the team of Guillot, seniors Kristiina Baker and Sarah Hinz, and junior Cassie Fortini placed first in the 4x100 relay with a time of 50.76.
For the field events, freshman Lindsey Dubas placed first in the high jump with a height of 1.58 meters. In addition, she also placed second in the long jump spanning a distance of 4.90 meters. Senior Sarah Petzold earned a NCAA provisional mark in the hammer throw, placing second with a distance of 47.70 meters. This was Petzold’s first career provisional mark. Also earning an NCAA mark—her first of the season—was sophomore Connor Ahlborn, who placed third in the hammer throw with a distance of 47.69 meters.
The following day, three members of the Engineers’ squads were selected to participate in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference decathlon and heptathlon, hosted by Cornell University.
Sophomore Garrett Harms finished second overall in the decathlon, earning RPI 13 points for the state meet, which will be held next weekend. Harms was the top Liberty League performer, earning 5.715 points on the day, including two wins: in the pole vault with a height of 3.70 meters, and in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.11. Harms placed within the top five for all 10 events.
Also competing for RPI was freshman Alex Morin, who finished fourth with 5,187 points. Morin finished third in the 110-meter hurdles, just behind Harms, with a time of 16.27, as well as a fourth place finish in the pole vault with a height of 3.10 meters, and another fourth-place finish in the javelin with a throwing distance of 38.52 meters.
The only representative for the women’s team was sophomore Missy Steciuk, who participated in the heptathlon. Steciuk finished seventh overall, with 3,243 points. She posted three top-five finishes on the day, including her best finish—third in the 800-meter race, with a time of 2:26.07.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will head into this weekend’s state meet with extra points, as the men earned 13 on the weekend, and the women three. The event, which is hosted by Saint Lawrence University, will take place in Canton, N.Y., this Friday and Saturday.
