The Columbia track and field team split up this weekend to compete in both the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Boston and the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Despite the small number of participants selected to compete in these two meets, the women’s team’s 17 points left them tied with Seton Hall University for 18th out of the 51 teams at the ECAC/IC4A Championships.
The Light Blue achieved remarkable individual finishes from two NCAA hopefuls—senior Megan Lessard and sophomore Jeff Moriarty. Lessard took first place in 3,000-meter run in the ECAC/IC4A Championships with a time of 9:25.39. This performance met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard and also ranks Lessard as one of the top 25 runners in the country at the moment. Moriarty also met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard with his time of 1:49.46 in the 800-meter run, ultimately placing third at the Last Chance meet at Notre Dame. Head coach Wood expressed his praise in an e-mail.
“I am so pleased with Jeff and Megan’s performances this past weekend,” Willy Wood said. “To be able to line up just days after winning the Ivy League Championship in their respective events and hit the NCAA provisional standard is an amazing accomplishment. Megan has established herself as the top female distance runner in the Ivy League and as one of the nation’s top runners. As only a sophomore, Jeff has become the league’s top middle distance runner and is among the top underclass 800-meter runners in the nation.”
Both runners have a good chance of representing Columbia in the NCAA Indoor Division I Track and Field Championships next weekend. The athletes who achieved automatic qualifications will register for the championship, and then the rest of the competitors will be comprised of the top provisional qualifiers in each event-—a category into which both Moriarty and Lessard fall.
At the Last Chance meet, Moriarty and juniors Mike Mark and Chris Hays gave the Lions what Wood referred to as the “three of the top four individual performances in the Ivy League this year.” Mark and Hays finished the 800-meter run in 1:51.15 and 1:51.53 respectively.
Freshman Kyle Merber barely missed the NCAA qualifying standard with his finish of 4:05.72 in the one-mile run. However, Merber accomplished the fastest time run by a freshman and second-fastest time overall in school history.
In Boston, sophomores Mike Weisbuch, Dylan Isaacson, Matt Stewart, and freshman Philip Pierott broke the school record in the 4x800-meter relay, finishing the relay in 7:30.37 and earning all-east honors at the IC4A championships.
If selected by the NCAA, Moriarty and Lessard will be competing in the NCAA Indoor Division I Track and Field Championships from March 13 to March 14 at Texas A&M University in College Station.