Staying focused on the approaching Liberty League Championships, the Track & Field team competed in its first regular meet of their outdoor season this past weekend. Both the men and women were able to cope with the wet and chilly day to bring home 138.5 points, earning themselves second place.
In Springfield, Mass., the two All-Americans took two events each; senior Felicia Tsai won the discus with a 36.38-meter throw and the hammer throw with 52.7 meters. Junior Kemar Brown’s times of 10.85 and 21.96 captured the 100 and 200-meter dashes, respectively.
When the 1500-meter run went off, it was raining horizontally as the storm was just blowing in; eventually there was a half-hour weather delay. Senior captain Matt Haringa, a distance runner, explained that the “pretty lousy weather” was not a major concern for the distance guys, but the sprint and jump competitors were risking injury by competing. The meet ended safely for RPI; the only injury endured during the competition was a Springfield sprinter during a 100-meter race.
Although both teams did find individual and team successes this weekend, Haringa admits, “It’s still too early to tell [the status of the team]. It was just our first real meet with everyone there.” He did, however, point out junior Bobby Bloor, who won the exciting 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:22.41.
“I really didn’t have any expectation to do so well before I started. But then the gun went off, it felt right … Towards the end I was slowing down. … Regardless I still PR’d,” described Bloor of his race. He sees plenty of room for improvement late in the season but by the end of this race, he was all alone nearly 20 seconds ahead of the next competitor. Bloor wasn’t the only champion from RPI; five men and three women took first in at least one event.
Putting up a time of 50.37, sophomore Justin Schievelbein clinched the 400-meter dash. In the pole vault, senior Jason Legault’s height of 4.26 meters was good enough to take first place. Senior Lance Chase’s 53.42-meter hammer throw also secured first. On the women’s side, sophomore sprinter Marion Albert won the 200-meter dash in 26.54. Also, junior Sue Madden launched the shot put for 12.59 meters to also secure a win.
Two Rensselaer rookies also posted solid numbers. Freshman Cathy Malloy, who returned to action this weekend after having been injured for all of the indoor season. She has only been training for two to three weeks, but was able to run competitively. She finished second in the 5000-meter run. After close to 20 minutes of racing, she finished only 0.32 seconds behind the winner from Westfield. Another freshman, Sarah Hinz, was edged out and settled for third in both the 100-and 200-meter dashes.
The training continues for the Liberty League Championships here at Harkness Field on April 15. This Saturday, Rensselaer will travel to WPI to compete in the Engineer’s Cup, which will hopefully help propel the team to new levels as the season quickly progresses and the end of the school year nears.
