The track and field teams started their indoor season off with solid performances at three non-scored meets, beginning with a Yale Invitational held in New Haven, CT, on Saturday, Jan. 11.

Competing against mostly Division I and II schools, the Cardinal men and women showcased strong results. Among them, Kiley Kennedy ’16 broke a Wesleyan women’s record in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet 10 inches to take fifth place and break the previous indoor record of just over 9 feet 6 inches set in 2001.

Personal records were broken too, as Agbon Edomwonyi ’16 competed in the shot put with a toss of 45 feet 7 1/4 inches, earning him seventh place at the meet. His previous best as a Cardinal was set his rookie year 2012-13 at 45 feet 1 inch; he surpassed this by a clear margin. In addition to his shot put performance, Edomwonyi earned 11th place in the weight throw with a 44 feet 11 3/4 inches toss.

Other top performances for the Cardinal men included LaDarius Drew ’15 finishing in 14th place with a time of 7.17 seconds in the 60-meter dash and Will Sawyer ’16 pole vaulting for 13 feet 3 1/2 inches to come in seventh place.

From the women’s team, top finishes included Sierra Livious ’14 tossing her way to fourth place in shot put with a distance of 40 feet 7 1/2 inches. She also earned an eighth place finish with a weight throw of 46 feet 5 1/4 inches. In the 400m race, Ellie Martin ’16 finished in 16th place with a time of 1:00.03; Kimora Brock ’15 came in fifth place in the 800m race with a finishing time of 2:20.39.

On Saturday, Jan. 18, Wesleyan invited 11 colleges and hosted the first of its three invitationals, witnessing winning performances from the Cardinal men and women over opponents in a stacked field that included Little Three foe Amherst.

The Cardinal women saw five first-place winners in the 600m race (with Martin running 1:41.52), the 1000m (with Sydney Cogswell ’16 finishing at 3:07.10), 60m hurdles (with Renee Palmer ’17 closing at 9.75 seconds), high jump (with a 4-foot-9-inch clearing by Alexandra Bacchus ’17), and triple jump (with Bacchus again with a distance of 34-9 1/2).
In the 60m, Idara Foster ’15 finished second at 8.08 seconds, and a team made up of Cogswell, Foster, Rebecca Winkler ’16 and Nikita Rajgopal ’17 came in second place in the 4 x 400m relay.

For Edomwonyi on the men’s team, the theme of the first two meets was throwing things and breaking records. Of their eight first-place finishes, the Cardinal men saw Edomwonyi earn two first-place prizes in addition to breaking his own bests yet again with a 49 foot 3 inch shot put and a 43 foot 4 1/2 inch weight throw. Wesley Layug ’17 finished in first in the triple jump, flying 41 feet 7 1/4 inches to secure his place.

On the track, Yuon Flemming ’15 lead the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.76 seconds, Drew clinched the 400m with a final time of 53.08 seconds, Luca Ameri ’15 won the 600m at 1:25.20, Sam Roth ’14 finished in first for the 800m with a time of 2:01.01, and Evan Bieder ’15 led four other Cardinals in sweeping the 3000m with his time of 8:51.80.
Additional impressive finishes included Drew coming in second in the 60m race with a :07.26 time and Keith Conway ’16 close behind Bieder in the 3000m finishing second at 8:55.60.

The second Wesleyan Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 25 yet again saw leading Wes performances against eight other invited teams. Drew won both the 60m and the 400m on the men’s team with times of 7.20 seconds and 52.82 seconds respectively. In the 800m, Ameri came in second place at 2:00.87. At the 60m hurdles, Flemming won with a 9.52 seconds time. Layug finished third in triple jump going 40 feet 6 1/4 inches.
Edomwonyi continued his winning streak of achievements by clinching first place in both shot put and weight throw; he tossed 46 feet 4 1/4 inches and 42 feet 8 3/4 inches respectively.

On the same day, the distance-running Cardinal men competed in a meet against mainly Division I teams at Boston University, where Will Dudek ’17 finished 84th with a time of 4:24.59 as the top Wesleyan runner in the mile race and Bieder came in 34th in the 5000m, running it in 15:10.89.

Back in Middletown, the women’s team notched spectacular results, winning 12 first-place titles out of 18 events.

The Wesleyan women placed at the top in 12 events. Foster won the 60m at 8.12 seconds, followed closely by Alexis Walker ’16 just .04 seconds behind. Rajgopal won the 600m in 1:44.98; Aidan Bardos ’17 won the 800m in 2:24.72; Libby Lazare ’14 clinched the mile in 5:17.17; Caroline Elmendorf ’17 claimed first in the 3000m in 11:01.44, as did Molly Schassberger ’17 in the 5000m in 19:11.23.

The top three places in the 60m hurdles were swept by the Cardinals, with Palmer coming in first with a time of 9.79 seconds. Walker went 16 feet 6 1/2 inches to win long jump 7 1/2 and Bacchus jumped 33 feet inches to win triple jump. Livious tossed her way to first place in both shot put and weight throw, sending them 42 feet 11 1/2 inches and 48 feet 3/4 inches respectively.

With such success, the Cardinals look forward to future races. When asked about the season’s start and its current trajectory, Foster had an optimistic attitude.
“This year has started with an intensity that pushes us to be stronger and faster,” Foster wrote in an email to The Argus.

Wes track and field’s next event is the third and final Wesleyan Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 1.

“Our coaching staff has primed us to succeed,” Foster wrote. “Our program has been successfully preparing us to be a threat to our NESCAC competitors and proves to continuously impact us positively. The atmosphere is filled with a strong commitment between the runners and the coaches that reassures me of our potential success this season.”