Caldwell Breaks Record, Freshmen Continue Strong at Met Championships

Head coach Willy Wood’s latest recruiting class is making an immediate impact in the Columbia track and field history books.

Freshman sprinter Kyra Caldwell’s record-breaking time in the 60-meter hurdles paced a pack of Light Blue runners at the Metropolitan Championships last Friday, helping the Columbia women to a fourth-place finish at the event. The men, meanwhile, came in in sixth place in the Lions’ last tune-up before the New Balance Collegiate Invitational next week, the biggest indoor track meet on the East Coast.

Before Columbia welcomes some of the nation’s best track teams to its default home track at the New York City Armory, however, the team gave its young and backup runners a chance to stretch their legs. Caldwell turned in the finest performance for the Lions, with her time of 8.64 seconds earning her a first-place finish and the top spot in the Columbia record book, dethroning Osamuede Iyoha, who set the record last season. Caldwell added another record to her tally as part of the 4x400-meter relay team, comprised of herself, fellow freshman Sharay Hale, senior Marissa Smith, and sophomore Laura Vogel. The four turned in a time of 3:49.84, six-hundredths of a second ahead of the previous record mark and good for second place in the event, three seconds behind Seton Hall.

Wood’s other standout freshmen also performed well on Friday, with pole vaulter Sarah Engle winning her event with a vault of 3.65 meters and Uzunma Udeh taking first in the triple jump with a mark of 11.99 meters. Fellow freshman Monique Roberts, meanwhile, finished second in the high jump with a mark of 1.70 meters. Lelia Norman also came up just short of first place, with her time of 10:24.56 ten seconds shy of Marist runner Kathryn Sheehan’s winning mark.

For the men, sprinter standbys Stefan Vutescu and Cory Benton were solid as usual, with Vutescu taking first place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.88 seconds and Benton finishing fifth in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:04.71. Benton’s time also qualified him for IC4As. The men also had their share of success in the freshman class: Kyle Merber took second in the 3,000-meter, Miles Becker finished second in the 5,000-meter, and Jason Marks grabbed fourth in the pole vault.

Overall, Rutgers took first place for the men, while Seton Hall took first for the women. Columbia was the only Ivy school taking part in the event.

The Light Blue returns to action on the weekend for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, taking place on Feb. 6 and 7.