The first home meet of the outdoor season finished with a win for the women, who totaled 164 points and beat out competitors from Plattsburgh State, Springfield College, and the College of Saint Rose. The men were edged by Springfield, 188-176, but left the remaining two in the dust tied with 29 points.
Senior Felicia Tsai led for the women, winning the hammer throw with an NCAA provisional qualifying distance of 46.38 meters. Classmate Jen Dias took the 100-meter hurdles in 16.41 and the team took the first four places, with freshman Jessica Batty in second, classmates Rachel Guilot and Meghan Lenihan in third and fourth, respectively. Kathryn Markowitz, freshman, won the grueling 3000-meter steeplechase in 12:30.60, while classmate Lauren Brown finished second with 12:32.01. Freshman Sabrina Foster finished first in the pole vault with a height of 2.6 meters, while classmates Leanna Coiro took second with 2.3 meters, and Amelia Folkins in third with 2.15 meters.
The women were 1-4 in the discus throw preliminaries and ended up taking four of the top five slots in the finals. Leading the Red Hawk attack was sophomore Sarah Petzold with a distance of 35.47 meters, next for RPI were seniors Laurel White and Tsai, and freshman Chelsea Schifffman.
Rensselaer’s ‘A’ squad won the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:09.64. Although Springfield’s Nikki Hay won the 100-meter dash, RPI went 2-3-4 led by sophomore Sarah Hinz, with junior Marion Albert in the middle, and followed by Carol Scalice, a senior.
The men had many successes of their own as they followed junior Kemar Brown’s impressive times of 22.19 in the 200-meter dash and 11.31 in the 100-meter. Classmate Andrew Stanton was next with a time of 11.70. Carl Hartford, also a senior, won the 110-meter hurdles in 16.81, freshman Matt Scoffone and senior Okey Ekwuabu rounded out the race as the Red Hawks went 1-2-3. Senior teammate Greg Mariano took the 800-meter run in 2:00.02. In the 5000-meter run, RPI took both first and second place as freshman Eric Wyler and junior Ean Saberski finished with times of 15:52.04 and 16:26.00, respectively. Freshman TJ Parker won the 400-meter hurdles in 57.29.
Sophomore Justin Metzger won the pole vault at a height of 4.50 meters, and freshman Casey Lewis finished third with 3.95. The Red Hawks took the top five places in the triple jump, junior Delroy McEwan took first with his distance of 12.66 meters, then classmate Patrick Branning at 12.64, in third was sophomore Max Melleo with 12.01, followed by classmate Mitch LeRoy and freshman Casey Lewis. Senior Jeremy Burnham’s throw of 40.37 meters in the discus and 42.17 in the hammer throw place him third in both events.
The track & field team will return to Harkness Track & Field this Saturday at noon as it hosts the Engineers’ Cup, then head to the Liberty League Championships in Canton, NY on April 14.
