Select Members of Track Team Race to Washington for Meet

After wrapping up a successful league season, the Columbia track teams will send select members across the country this weekend to compete in the University of Washington’s last-chance qualifier meet. The squad will use this meet as a final tune-up before the NCAA Championships next weekend.

This weekend’s meet is the last chance for the Light Blue to qualify individuals into the NCAA Championships. Athletes will need to meet the standard markers for each event to make it into the national race, which will be held in Fayetteville, Ark. Competitors must be invited to race in the meet.

The Lions will be entering the final phase of their indoor season with five new All-Ivy runners after last weekend’s Ivy League Championships. Senior co-captain Liam Boylan-Pett, winning the one-mile race, won first-team All-Ivy honors, and his fellow Columbian, freshman Jeff Moriarty, was awarded second-team honors after coming in second place in the 1000-meter event. Boylan-Pett and Moriarty are both part of the Light Blue’s exceptional 4x800-meter relay squad, and Boylan-Pett has now won the one-mile race for the second year in a row. Junior Melissa Ikono and senior Erika Moses both earned second-team honors, with Ikono competing in the 60-meter race and Moses running in the 400-meter event. Senior Osamuede Iyoha, who broke her own school record in the 60-meter hurdles, also made second-team All-Ivy.

For the women’s team, senior Carmen Ballard will be racing in the one-mile event, while Moses will compete in the 400-meter and 200-meter dashes. On the men’s side, Boylan-Pett and senior Zach Richard will race in the one-mile event. Sophomore Mike Mark, senior Jonah Rathbun, and Moriarty will race in the 800-meter event. The trio will be competing against nationally ranked runners from Oregon, sophomore Andrew Wheating and senior Michael McGrath.

Saturday’s last chance qualifier will begin at 10:30 a.m. PST in Seattle, Wash. With a bit of luck, the Light Blue will be able to send its strongest runners into next weekend’s NCAA Championships.