Track Teams Compete at Great Dane Classic

The Columbia track and field teams will take on Eastern Conference competitors at the University of Albany’s Great Dane Classic this Friday. The meet will give the Lions the first opportunity this indoor season to face off against Penn, a fellow Ivy League member.

On the men’s side, the Light Blue will find itself in a tough position against the Quakers, who swept the meet with a first-place finish last season. Penn runners have shown some strength so far this season, with senior Tim Kaijala winning the 1-mile event at the Penn State Open and qualifying for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America competition this spring. Kaijala also won last year’s 1-mile race at the Great Dane Classic. Senior Larry Contrella took first in the 3000-meter event at the Penn State Open with fellow senior Brian Goldberg shortly behind him.

Monmouth University, another Great Dane competitor, has made a notable showing in field events with freshman Tom Ciccoli setting the school freshman record in shot put, qualifying for the IC4A meet and winning his event at the NYU Gotham Cup. Junior Ryan Madrid won the 800-meter race at the Gotham Cup in a time of 1:55.15 that tops Columbia sophomore Cory Benton’s 1:58.72 at last week’s Dartmouth-Yale meet.

The Lions will also need to watch out for schools like Manhattan College, Albany, and Rider that placed in the top ten at last season’s Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships. The Columbia men placed 18th at the championships last season.

The women’s team will find itself evenly matched in the distance events, as both Penn and Monmouth have made rather strong debuts in the longer races this season. The Quakers’ distance medley relay, made up of seniors Jesse Carlin, Claire Kim, Stacy Kim, and Shaunee Morgan, qualified for ECAC Championships at the Penn State Open, and junior Kinjal Parikh and senior Jamie Liberti took the top two spots in the 3000-meter race at the same meet. Carlin, who qualified for the ECAC meet as an individual, came close to breaking her school record in the 400m event last week. However, this will be the Quaker women’s debut at the Great Dane Classic, as only the men’s team competed last season.

Monmouth sophomore Cailin Lynam was named the Northeast Conference’s Track Athlete of the Week after winning the seeded mile at the NYU Gotham Cup, setting the new Monmouth record, and qualifying for ECAC. The Hawks also seem to have noteworthy relay teams so far, with the 4x400 relay qualifying for ECAC at the Penn State Open and the 4x800 relay placing second at the Gotham Cup.

Rider, Penn, and Monmouth all placed above Columbia at last year’s spring ECAC Championships, with Rider taking 12th, Penn coming in at 14th, and Monmouth scoring 18th. The Lions took 24th at the meet.