On Saturday, the Wesleyan track team traveled to Conn College for the two day Silfen Invitational, where the men’s and women’s squads both took sixth place overall, scoring 53 and 61 points, respectively. Tufts claimed victories on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Cardinals had a number of strong performances, including two first-place showings by the men and one for the women.
The men scored many of their points in the distance events with point-scoring finishes in all of the longer races. Tate Knight ’18 headlined the distance squad’s strong performances by claiming victory in the 3000 meter steeplechase while recording a personal record time of 9:28.70.
“Solid race overall,” Knight said. “I can’t be unhappy with a [personal record], but there’s still work to be done before NESCACs. [The] goal is to go to DIII Nationals, so I would need to have a top 20 time. I need to keep working on hurdle flexibility and form, but other than that, I’m just focusing on my next race and making sure my legs stay healthy.”
In the 5000 meter, Taylor Titcomb ’16 led the pack for Wesleyan with an eleventh place finish in 14:54.19, while Keith Conway ’16 and Reid Hawkins ’17 came through in 15th and 17th, respectively. Conway and Hawkins both nearly broke the fifteen-minute barrier, crossing the line in personal record times of 15:03.36 and 15:08.64. In the 1500 meter run, Will Dudek ’17 finished in 13th with a solid time of 4:02.33. Henry Vansant ’18 secured 10th place in the twenty-five lap 10000 meter race, finishing in 34:12.20.
There were also several strong distance performers on the women’s side. Molly Schassberger ’17 came through in a personal best of 17:32.56 to take eighth in the 5000 meter. Behind Schassberger was Caroline Elmendorf ’17, who finished 12th with a time of 17:47.49, also a personal record. Also in the 5000 meter was Julia Mitchell ’19, who crossed the line in a personal best performance of 18:00.41 for 17th place. Aida Julien ’18 led a number of Cardinals in the 800 meter, placing 11th with a time of 2:21.98.
The men had several big performances in the field events, as per usual. Agbon Edomwonyi ’16 followed up his great showing last week with a dominant effort in the discus throw, crushing the competition with a personal best heave of 149’ 3”, over ten feet further than second place. Edomwonyi also came in fifth in the hammer throw with a 154’ 3” toss. Andrew McCracken ’19 cleared the 13’ 11.25” bar in the pole vault, matching the high mark of the day, but was awarded second place based on misses at earlier heights. Jessy Carrasco-Gonzales ’18 also did well in the pole vault, clearing 12’ 5.5” for fourth place.
Allegra Fils-Aime ’19 returned to her winning ways in the triple jump, as her jump of 36’ 7.5” was almost two feet further than the runner-up’s mark. Also in the field for the women was Colleen O’Neil ’18, who took sixth in the pole vault, making it over the 9’ 0.25” bar.
The women once again had a number of high-placing finishes in the sprint events. Alexis Walker ’16 took fourth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.57. Jenny Aguiar ’19 continued her string of impressive performances in the 400 meter, taking third place in 59.17. Alexandra Dibrindisi ’19 also scored a top 10 finish in the 400, crossing the line in 1:02.08 for eighth place. In the 200 meter, Aguiar struggled a bit to drop down in distance but still performed admirably, claiming sixth place in a time of 26.31. Not too far behind was Ellie Martin ’16, who crossed the line in 27.16 for 15th place. Hannah Goodman ’16 took sixth in the 400 meter hurdles, coming through in 1:12.23.
“My 200 [meter] was a little more difficult,” Martin said. “I’ve been coming back from a stress fracture in my foot, but I still have a lot of residual pain. I haven’t been able to train in the same way that I need to for the 400 [meter], which is usually my main event, so I’m trying some 200s. It’s great to be back on the track and racing, but tough because my body doesn’t work in the same way it did last year. I’m often times disappointed with my times, but I always have to remind myself that coming back from an injury is a long process.”
These strong individual sprint performances extended to the relay events, in which the Cardinals scored a trio of top-three finishes. In the 4×100 meter relay, Aguiar, Martin, Fils-Aime, and Walker combined for a speedy third place finish in a time of 50.64, less than a half-second off the top spot. Dibrindisi, Ananya Subrahmanian ’18, Isabella Reilly ’19, and Goodman ran the 4×400 meter relay and also took home third place with a time of 4:09.87. Finally, the 4×800 meter relay squad composed of Sydney Cogswell ’16, Julien, Nikita Rajgopal ’17, and Sylwia Lipior ’18 claimed second in a time of 9:50.28.
“I was really pleased with the [4×100 meter] because that was our first time running it this season and our baton exchanges went smoothly,” Martin said. “It was great preparation for NESCACs. I’m excited to continue to do work with the [4×100 meter] and surprise some teams at NESCACs.”
Also on the men’s side was Drew Trotman ’18, who had a a 21st place showing in the 400 meter with a time of 52.93. This mark is now Trotman’s personal record, as it was his first time dipping below 53 seconds. Austin Dhillon ’18 and Colin Mahoney ’18 competed in the 800 meter, running times of 2:02.82 and 2:04.09, respectively.
The Cardinals will be able to sleep in a bit next week, as Wesleyan will host the annual J. Elmer Swanson Invitational this Saturday, April 23. The success of the outdoor season will be determined the following weekend at Amherst, where the NESCAC Championships are being held.