Engineers sprint to third place

After the two-day indoor conference, the men’s and women’s track and field teams both took third place out of seven teams. Both teams placed highly at multiple events, and Matt Lecky ’23 was named Men's Track Athlete of the Meet.

In the men’s 5000 meter run, seven out of eight athletes on the podium were Engineers with Cory Kennedy ’24, Vince Simonetti ’25, and Owen Szabo ’22 taking the top three spots, respectively. Lecky won the one mile run, breaking the meet and facility record with a time of 4:10.99, and he took first place in the 3000 meter run followed by John Reed (Gr) in second place.

RPI also took first place in the men’s distance medley relay with the team of Matthew Smalling ’24, Robert Dabney ’24, Dylan Rosemark ’24, and Abel Hagos ’25. Luke Kovalcin ’24 took third place in the high jump, and Jacob Haqq ’24 took third in the triple jump. After the first day of the conference, the Engineers’ men’s team led the field with 75.5 points and 1.5 points ahead of Ithaca College’s 74. At the end of the meet, the men’s team dropped to third with University of Rochester in first followed by Ithaca in second.

The women’s team also found success in the distance races. Jill Lees '23 finished 5th in the 800 meter run. Morgan Lee ’23 took first place in the mile and 3000 meter run; meanwhile, Nia Goddard ’23 took third place in the 3000 meter run and first in the 5000 meter run.

RPI’s distance medley team of Jordan Porter ’22, Katie Manning ’25, Cassandra Shore ’23, and Eileen Beres ’23 took fourth place. Maya Verma ’22 grabbed fourth place for the Engineers in the indoor pentathlon. Jacy Scharlow ’22 clinched gold for the Engineers in the high jump clearing 1.63 meters in her first attempt. Katheryn Morin ’22 took third place in the 60 meter dash by mere milliseconds. She also placed eighth in the 200 meter dash.

The women’s track and field team started in fourth after the first day, but they brought their score up to third to end the meet losing to Ithaca and Rochester which took first and second places respectively. The Engineers hope to continue their season at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in North Carolina on March 11th and 12th. The top 20 competitors in each event at the end of the season are selected to attend the championships. With one more weekend left to qualify four Engineers currently sit in qualifying positions. On the men's side, Lecky is ranked eighth in the mile and fifth in the 3000, whilst Reed is ranked 12th in the 5000. For the women, Lee currently holds the last qualifying spot in the mile and Scharlow is tenth in the high jump. The Engineers will look to cement their spots at the championships this weekend at the Tufts Last Chance National Qualifying Meet.