Wesleyan University hosted the Wesleyan Invitational at the Bacon Fieldhouse in Middletown, Conn., on Saturday. Rensselaer’s men’s and women’s track & field teams competed in this event as their season opener. Athletes from Rensselaer captured numerous first place finishes and displayed that winter recess did not mean that they had slacked off from preparing for competition.
Beginning a meet on a good note is important and the men’s distance squad took advantage of this opportunity by entering several individuals in the first event. Placing second in the 5K was junior Tom O’Grady and his fellow teammate senior captain, Matt Haringa. Other point scorers for the distance group this weekend were freshmen Conor Murphy and Bryan Murphy who placed second and third, respectively, in the 3K.
Junior captain Paul Legac, who ran 53.28 seconds for a third-place finish in the 400-meter, commented that “although times may not have been as fast today as some people would have liked, they provided a good stepping stone for many athletes to have great performances later in the season.”
Standout performances this weekend were had by short sprinters and field event athletes as well. Sophomore Adedeji Akindele-Alo placed first in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.08 seconds. Teammate Alhassane Diallo won the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.72 seconds and helped his companions Justin Schievelbein and Andrew Stanton round out the top three. Also finishing first this weekend was senior Jason Legault, who jumped 4.11-meter in the pole vault.
Jennifer Dias, a junior, had an outstanding day for the women as she placed first in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:41.41 minutes. Following up this win, Dias placed third in the 55-meter hurdles. Dias also ran the fastest time of the day for the 55-meter hurdles during the preliminary rounds.
Allison Poetzsch, a freshman, came to her first indoor meet and captured the victory in the triple jump with a score of 9.41 meters. Poetzsch’s teammates, a junior captain, Carol Scalice, was another placing athlete for Rensselaer this weekend. During the 200-meter dash, Scalice placed third with her time of 27.73 seconds. Off the track, Scalice helped the team out with her second-place leap of 5.15 meters in the long jump. Scalice was excited that the team performed well on Saturday and hopes that it will set a tone of good things to come.
This upcoming week the men’s and women’s teams will be preparing to travel to Williamstown, Mass., on January 21 to face Williams College.
