The indoor track teams showed signs of good things to come in their first away meet of the season this past Saturday at the Tufts Invitational in Medford, Mass.
There was no team scoring, but several individuals competed admirably for the Cardinals. Wes Fuhrman ’05, coming back from an injury, placed third among fourteen runners in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:49.32. Captain Mshangwe Crawford ’04 came in second out of a field of eleven jumpers, accomplishing a 41-foot triple jump.
“Many members of the team did very well for themselves and the team is coming along at a fast pace,” said Crawford. “We should definitely do well this year.”
Pat Moffett ’04, Max Piana ’05, Joel Pratt ’07 and Justin Freilberg ’04 placed sixth in the 4×200 relay, with a time of 1:38.19. Matt Moss ’05, Greg Heller ’04, Jon Kraus ’04 and Owen Kiely ’06 placed fifth in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR), finishing in 10:55.95.
“The team had a solid showing at Tufts,” said Nate Huddell ’07. “Although we’re still in an early phase of training, our performance was promising and we anticipate sending several distance runners into post-season competition. Bryan Bissell and Wes Fuhrman both ran well in their respective track debuts, and despite racing twice during the meet, the DMR team placed an impressive fifth among a tough field.”
“The highlight for the distance squad was certainly the return, however brief, of Wes Fuhrman,” said Captain Bryan Bissell ’04. “We saw flashes of brilliance in his muscular stride that reeked of the rocket sauce that we have been without this school year. My own race was highlighted by the way I closed with fury in order to beat my Salem State foe.”
The women also had several individual standouts against the Jumbos. Esther Schlegel ’04 finished third with an impressive time of 8.82 in the 55-meter hurdles, just .02 seconds shy of the team record. Kristy Williams ’06 made a 41.5-foot weight throw that was good for sixth, and Ellen Davis ’07 finished the 3000-meter in second place with a time of 10:26.19. Schlegel, Abby Austin ’07, Rebecca Morrell ’06 and Kara Schnoes ’07 finished the 4×200 meter relay in 1:55.47, which gave them a sixth place finish. Captain Rebecca Weinstein ’04 tied for fifth in the high jump at four feet eleven inches.
“We’re getting stronger coming back from break and looking forward to getting better the rest of the season,” said Weinstein.
All of the runners see great improvement in the future.
“Wesleyan Track is now officially known as the Derrty Birds, complete with [a] bird call modeled after the most ferocious of fowl, [a] bird dance modeled after the multi-talented Morris Day and flight modeled after, well, birds,” said Bissell. “This much is clear. We have the bird head on our uniform to prove it. Our distance medley was rusty in its first appearance of the year, but look for greatness come February, when the Derrty Birds take wing!”
The next chance for the Derrty Birds to fly high is the Wesleyan Invitational on Saturday Jan. 31, in Freeman Athletic Center.
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