On Saturday, Rensselaer hosted their second track meet for the outdoor season on the Harkness Track and Field. The RPI Invitational was a non-scoring meet that included competitors from SUNY-Albany, Union College, and Southern Vermont College. Although it was continuously raining throughout the meet, most performances remained unhindered and the events ran on time.
In the track events the day began with the 3000 meter steeplechase where Johanna Primmer took second place for the women in a time of 13:32.5 and Josh Schuster took second for the men in 10:22.4, followed by third-place teammate Matt Haringa in 11:06.0. Then, in the 100 meter hurdles for women, Melissa Andritz placed second in 19.53 while Dwaine Alleyne also came in second for the men with 15.98 in the 110 meter hurdles. The first three places in the next event, the 400 meter run, were all captured by RPI athletes which include Alysia Evanitsky with 60.8, Lauren Cephas with 61.4, and Becky Lock with 61.6. Then, in the 800 meter run, Alysia Coffey took first place with 2:22.8 and Rebecca Rosenberg-Beran came in a close second with a personal record of 2:23.0. On the men’s team, Mike Winnick captured second with 1:58.5 and Adam Day placed third with 1:59.5. In the following event, the 400 meter hurdles, third place for the women went to Deborah Kellog-Van Orden with 1:17.8 and for the men, Keith Weiss came in third with 1:03.4. In the 200m heats, Katie Fredlund placed third with 29.47 and Dave Albini came in fourth with a 25.63. In the final event of the day, the 5000 meter, Claire Lears and Leah Underwood placed second and third for the women with respective times of 20:39.8 and 20:48.9. Then, on the men’s team, Duane Crammond placed second with 16:28.2 and Bob Baniak placed fourth with 16:35.6.
Turning to the field events, there were many additional strong performances, despite the weather. In the long jump Derek McGough placed second with a mark of 5.92 meters and for the women first place was captured by Cara Rosato with a jump of 4.89 meters while second place went to Becky Lock with a mark of 4.85 meters. In the high jump, Rosato once again placed, coming in second with 4’ 4”. Teammate Melissa Andritz also competed in the high jump, placing third with 4’ 2”. In the triple jump both the men and the women’s teams captured the top three positions, first place going to Tom Schneider with a mark of 12.79 meters and Katie Fredlund with a mark of 10.16 meters, second place to Sharath Alampur with a jump of 12.64 meters and Jess Pearson with a mark of 9.94 meters, third to David Tarven with 12.02 meters and Allison Benson with 9.69 meters.
In the throwing events, men’s hammer was won by Mike Johnson with a throw of 50.50 meters and Felicia Tsai placed second for the women with a 40.60 meters. Javelin was won by Jim Motzkin with a throw of 52.21 meters and on the women’s side, Heather Maffei placed second with 24.23 meters and Andrea Chiarello came in third with 22.25 meters. In the shot put, Nate Doyle placed third with 13.43 meters and Jo Alexander also placed third in both the shot put and discus with respective throws of 11.28 meters and 29.54 meters.
The meet provided the athletes with an opportunity to compete without the pressure of scoring, and like other meets it was an overall success for the team. Next weekend they will once again be scoring as they compete in the NYSCTC Championships at St. Lawrence.
