Coming off a strong performance at last weekend’s New Balance Collegiate Invitational, the Columbia track and field team hopes to use its recent success to compete at the Lafayette-Rider Invitational this Friday.
Co-hosted by Lafayette and Rider, the unscored meet will feature about 20 teams. Last season, the invitational was not a major competition for the Lions, but Columbia nevertheless managed to place well in certain events. Senior sprinter Yvonne Maginley and junior distance runner Kari Higdem, along with senior mid-distance runner Ana Valdez, finished fairly well in their races. Sophomore distance runners Bobby Hartnet and junior Ross Turner and mid-distance runner William Ballenthin delivered for the men’s side.
Lafayette, currently ranked 68th in the women’s NCAA Division I poll, will be strong competition for the Light Blue. Leopards freshman Janica Austin, this week’s Patriot League Rookie of the Week, will run in the 400-meter dash after setting two school records in the 60-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash. Lafayette performed well at last year’s invitational, with six Leopard women claiming top-three finishes.
Rider, whose women’s team is the returning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions and whose men’s team finished second place, is also heading to the invitational after competing at the New Balance meet. The men’s distance medley relay team took second last weekend and qualified for its conference championships, and the 4x800-meter relay ran a personal best and qualifying time. The women’s 4x800-relay team set a new school record and placed tenth.
Columbia will need to use this and future meets to advance its standings come spring season. Last year, the Light Blue men placed fifth in Ivy League Championships while the women placed fourth. Currently, the Lions and Bulldogs are the only two Ivy League teams to not be ranked in either the men’s or women’s NCAA Division I polls. Princeton is leading the men’s group at 24th, and Penn is topping off the women in 37th place. Penn, Princeton, Cornell, and Dartmouth managed to earn spots on both polls.
The meet will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the New Balance Armory Track & Field Center at The Armory in Washington Heights.
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