The Columbia track and field team traveled to Philadelphia on Thursday for the three-day Penn Relays. The Lions took on Ivy League foes along with some of the best nonconference track teams from all over the country at the prestigious meet.
Last year the Light Blue finished the men’s 4x800-meter and women’s 4x400-meter relays in third place. Both teams’ performances earned them second-best finishes in school history. This year, the squads placed fifth in the 4x800-meter Championship of America relay. The men’s team of juniors Mike Mark and Chris Hays, sophomore Jeff Moriarty, and freshman Kyle Merber finished in 7:21.27, setting a new school record. Moriarty posted the third-fastest 800-meter split on the day, but was outpaced by Jacob Hernandez of the University of Texas and Georgetown’s Liam Boylan-Pett (a former Lion).
While the men’s squad finished the championship relay less than five seconds behind the top finisher, the women’s team was less successful. The group of junior Serita Lachesis, sophomore Jackie Drouin, and freshmen Sharay Hale and Laura Meadors crossed the finish line in 8:54.05, roughly 37 seconds behind the University of Tennessee, the event’s winner. But in the 4x400-meter heptagonal relays, the women’s squad of sophomores Jacqui Brown and Laura Vogel and freshmen Kyra Caldwell and Hale beat out four Ivy League opponents to finish second behind Cornell with a time of 3:47.90. The men’s team finished fourth in the event.
In the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase championship, senior Jeff Randall came from behind to narrowly edge Reuben Mwei and Gilbert Limo in the close competition for second place. Scott MacPherson of the University of Arkansas took the title, outpacing Randall by five seconds. On the women’s side, senior Kari Higdem took the event title in 10:48.58. Fellow senior Megan Lessard took fourth place in the 5,000-meter college run.
Sophomore Brendan Martin managed a time of 14:28.98 for fifth place in the men’s 5,000-meter run. Senior Alaina Miller and junior John Ryan Withall—the fastest 5,000-meter runners—represented the Light Blue in the Olympic development 5,000-meter run, finishing 12th and 11th, respectively.
The standout performance in the field events came from freshman Monique Roberts’ high jump. Roberts captured first place in the women’s college event with a jump of 1.72 meters. Senior Elisse Douglass and freshman Uzunma Udeh finished 27th and 28th in the long jump with lengths of 5.22 and 5.21 meters. In the triple jump, however, Douglass came in 22nd with combined jumps of 11.13 meters, while Udeh only managed a total of 11.02 meters.
The Columbia track and field team will return to competition next weekend for the Princeton Elite meet, which will run from Friday, May 1 to Saturday, May 2.