Six new meet records were set by Rensselaer athletes at the UCAA track and field championships held this weekend, Saturday, April 10 in Canton, N.Y. Although all of these records happened to be set in the field events, there also were numerous first place finishes by athletes on the Rensselaer team in a variety of events on the track. With these successes, the men’s team won the meet with 297 points, while the women’s team placed second with a total score of 231 points.
In addition to all the UCAA records set, Rensselaer’s field event athletes had a particularly strong meet with first place finishes in a majority of the events and numerous athletes scoring within the top six. On the women’s team, UCAA records were set in the pole vault by Alison Benson and Cara Rosato with an identical height of 10ft 6.25in, in the hammer throw by Felicia Tsai with a mark of 166ft 9.0in, and in both the shot put and discus throw by Sue Madden with respective marks of 40ft 5.0in and 118ft 4.0in. The remaining two UCAA records were set by Dwaine Alleyne in the triple jump with a mark of 44ft 2.0in and by Jim Motzkin in javelin with a throw of 183ft 9.0in.
The men’s team had several other first place finishers. Jason Legualt won the pole vault event with a height of 13ft 6.5in, Trevor Tersmette won men’s high jump in 6ft 0.5in, Derek McGough won long jump with 21ft 5.5in, and Jack Miller won the discus with a mark of 139ft 5.0in.
Another series of outstanding performances were accomplished by freshman Jen Dias, who won four separate events, two in the field and two on the track. Dias took the lead in both the long jump, with 15ft 11.5in, and triple jump, with 33ft 8.0in on the field. She also won the 400m dash in the time of 58.71, and the 200m dash in 26.46. Other first place finishers on the track for the women’s team were Rebecca Lock in the 400m hurdles with 66.66 and in the 1600m relay with teammates Michelle Fisher, Erin Coffey, and Alysia Evanitsky who ran a combined time of 4:11.52.
The top performing track athletes on the men’s team included Josh Schuster, who won the 300m steeplechase in 10:23.2, and Joe Otto, who won the 800m run with a time of 1:54.66. In the sprint events, the first place finishers were Alleyne running 15.25 in the 110m hurdles, Tersmette running 55.74 in the 400m hurdles, and Owen Kellett running 50.30 in the 400m dash. Kellett also contributed to the win by the men’s 1600m relay team including Verne Sylvestre, Brett Perron, and Paul Legac, who ran a time of 3:25.54.
Once again, the team has demonstrated its widespread talent and depth through many successful performances in the UCAA championship meet. Next weekend, they hope to press their limits while competing against several Division I schools in a meet held by Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
