Track and field sets two school records, eight qualify for NCAA Regionals

This weekend, the Columbia track and field team traveled to Princeton to compete in the Larry Ellis Invitational. The meet, which included competitors from Brown, Yale, and Penn marked a return to Ivy League competition for Columbia, as it swept multiple events and consistently finished before league opponents in other events.

Like she did at last weekend’s Joe Hilton Invitational at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, freshman Sharay Hale finished first in the 400-meter dash in 53.54 seconds, two-tenths of a second ahead of Georgetown’s Abigail Johnson. Hale improved her performance in the 200-meter dash this weekend, to take second—outpaced only by Shore Athletic Complex’s Aliann Pompey. Her time in the 400-meter dash was one second below the NCAA qualifying mark, but her sprint in the 200-meter dash broke her record in the event.

Sophomore Jeff Moriarty continued his stellar outdoor season, finishing the 1,500-meter run in 3:47.77 for a fifth-place finish. The sophomore from Westwood, Mass. was only overtaken in the event by nonconference competitors, including Erik van Ingen of Binghamton who won the event less than two seconds ahead of Moriarty. However, Moriarty’s time was still sufficient for an NCAA qualification. Senior Megan Lessard had similar results in the same event. Though she finished fourth, her time of 4:24.63 was still three seconds under the NCAA qualifying mark. Junior Serita Lachesis also finished fourth, this time in the 800-meter run, but was a fraction of a second too slow to achieve an NCAA qualification.

The contest for first place in the 800-meter run was between two Lions. Junior Mike Mark led the competition, though he was closely followed by Chris Hays, Dylan Isaacson, and Matt Stewart. Still, Mark finished the event in 1:51.60, six-tenths of a second ahead of Hays to clinch the title. Mark also took fifth in the 800-meter run. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Syracuse’s Kyle Heath sped past freshman Kyle Merber. Heath finished the event in 8:51.39 for first, while Merber crossed the finish line ten seconds later for second place. Though Merber has not participated in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for Columbia before, his exceptional performance earned him a NCAA qualification.

In the field, the Lions had an equally strong showing, as senior Elisse Douglas conquered the triple jump with a final jump of 12.30 meters to take the title and an NCAA qualification, while setting a new school record. Fellow Lion Uzunma Udeh finished fourth with a jump of 11.97 meters. Douglas also ended the long jump with a jump of 5.37 meters, earning him seventh place. In the high jump, freshman Monique Roberts barely hit the NCAA qualifying mark of 1.75 meters, but took second overall in the event.

Freshman Kyra Caldwell took second in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. In the 400-meter hurdles, Caldwell was narrowly passed by London Finley of Georgetown. Finley took first in 59.64 seconds, less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Caldwell. Both Finley and Caldwell garnered NCAA qualifications for their performances in the 400-meter hurdles.

The Columbia track and field team will continue its outdoor season and conference competition next weekend at the Penn Relays. The meet will run from Thurs., April 23 to Sat., April 25.