The Rensselaer indoor track and field team competed in their first meet of the season last Saturday at Williams College. Many athletes scored and qualified for regional and state championship meets against tough competition from MIT, Westfield State, and Williams College.
The women’s team had 26 marks qualifying athletes for the New York state meet, five of which also qualified for ECACs. The team earned second place in the meet, scoring a total of 153 points and setting three new school records.
Alysia Evanitsky scored in the 600 meter dash, placing second in 1:46.55. Freshmen scoring included Carol Scalice, who ran 7.63 in the 55m dash, placing second in the event, and Jennifer Dias, who won the 400m dash in 1:00.89. Dias also ran in the 1600m relay with teammates Evanitsky, Rebecca Lock, and Alyssa Coffey who took first in a time of 4:18.31.
In the distance events, a new school record was set in the 1000m run by Coffey who placed second in the event with a time of 3:08.50. Teammate Cara O’Toole ran the 1500m in 5:09.40, also placing second.
The women’s team also did well in the field events. In the long jump, Cara Rosato scored second with 4.78m and Carol Scalice won the event with a jump of 5.27m, also a new school record. In high jump, Heather Maffei tied for second with a height of 1.47m.
The throwing events contributed points as well higlighted by freshman Sue Madden’s school record in the shot put, 12.22m, for fourth place.
With equally impressive performances, the athletes on the men’s team scored a combined total of 155 points, earning third place at the meet. The men had 39 qualifying marks for the state meet and five for ECACs. In the 55m dash, Derek McGough came in second place with his time of 6.58, and in the 55m hurdles Dwaine Alleyne won the event in a time of 7.81. Joe Otto also won the 1000m run in 2:36.16.
In the men’s field events, Alleyne provisionally qualified for NCAA’s by winning the triple jump in 14.09m and his teammate McGough also won the long jump with 6.81m.
In the pole vault, Jason Legualt jumped 4.15m placed second, while Adam Haskell and Ekwaubu both tied for third place in the high jump with jumps of 1.77m.
