Track Takes Talent to the Next Level

With nine athletes earning all-Ivy first-team honors and seven tracksters advancing to NCAA Regionals, last year’s indoor track season was a success as far as individual achievement was concerned. While many runners enjoyed personal victories, the Lions fell to the Big Red and Princeton Tigers on both the men’s and women’s sides, with the men taking fifth and the women taking fourth at the Ivy Championships. This season, once again boasting a roster of seasoned athletes, the Columbia indoor track team is looking to channel its individual prowess into team triumphs.

“We certainly hope that [advanced team standing] is attainable or capable,” head coach Willy Wood said. “That would be the goal coming in. There’s enough highly talented people, juniors and seniors especially, that they should be able to score very high. We don’t have the same sort of physical makeup as other teams with strong field contingents, but we can definitely improve on how we did last year.”

Wood pointed to seniors Liam Boylan-Pett and Zach Richard and sophomore Michael Mark as athletes who will lead the men’s squad. Boylan-Pett, who qualified last year for NCAA Regionals in the 1,500-meter and advanced to Nationals in the 800-meter, is coming off of a strong cross country season along with Richard. Mark, a member of two record-breaking relay teams, placed seventh in the 800-meter at last year’s USA Track & Field Championships. Junior Jeff Randall will be competing in the 3,200-meter.

“Our strength is definitely in middle distance,” Wood said of the men’s team. “Typically our season is highlighted much more so by individual results and achievements.”

The men’s team will be moving forward without the support of Erison Hurtault, CC ’07, an athlete who last season became the first male Ivy League athlete to win eight straight championships. Hurtault, who dominated in middle-distance events, had won the 400-meter four years in a row at Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships.

Sophomore Cory Benton is expected to follow in Hurtault’s stead, according to Wood. Benton, a member of the 4x400-meter relay who won at Outdoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships and set a school record at NCAA Regionals, placed 10th in the 400-meter at outdoor Ivies last season.

Senior sprinters Whitney Crayton, Erika Moses, and Osamuede Iyoha are steering the women’s team ahead and will lend the squad “unbelievable quality and depth,” Wood said. First-year Melesa Johnson, hailing from Kansas with four state championships to her name, and junior Melissa Ikono are budding sprinters who are expected to rack up points for the Lions.

Senior Carman Ballard, who recently earned all-American honors, will head up the distance team. Ballard, who has advanced to NCAA Nationals three times in her cross country career, is a runner whose versatility will allow her to deliver in events ranging from the 800-meter to the 5,000-meter. Freshman Jackie Drouin and seniors Stephanie Lenihan and Shelby Leland will follow behind Ballard to take up the 3,000- and 5,000-meter events. Drouin and Lenihan earned second-team all-Ivy honors this past cross country season. Freshman Courtney Loftin will lead the team on field events, competing in the triple jump.

Aside from Ivy League Championships and NCAA Regionals, Wood will be focusing on February’s New Balance Collegiate Invitational, a meet that he said “will give the team an opportunity to run against some of the best teams in the country.”

This season’s primary aim, however, will be to train for outdoor track.

“In indoor season, we just train very hard,” Wood said. “We’re running very high volumes. We’re trying to get to NCAA Outdoor Regionals, and we’re very fortunate to use the top facilities in the country.”

In order to make any headway in either indoor or outdoor Ivy Championships this season, the Lions will need to defeat Cornell and Princeton, two teams who produced 15 and six all-Ivy athletes last season, respectively. The Big Red, with jumpers Jeomi Maduka, Muhammad Halim, and Rayon Taylor, will most likely sweep the Light Blue in field events, while the Tigers have a weathered distance squad that has had a great deal of league success so far.

Columbia’s first meet will be the Princeton Invitational on Friday, Dec. 7.