Columbia Track Team Pulls Double Duty This Weekend

After soaking Columbia students with water guns in front of Low Library earlier this week in a spirit-raising event, the track and field teams will move on to try and drown their competition over this weekend. The Lions will be competing in two important meets, the Larry Ellis Invitational and the New York Relays.
The Light Blue will split up its squad, sending the distance and mid-distance runners to race in the Friday events of the Princeton-hosted Larry Ellis Invitational. Columbia will face off against not only the Tigers’ deep long-distance roster, but also against Ivy League competitors Penn and Brown. Penn standouts Tim Kaijala and Kinjal Parikh, along with the Bears’ top athletes Smita Gupta and Samantha Adelberg and the Tigers’ leaders Liz Costello and Frank Tinney, will provide seasoned competition for the Lions. Columbia’s roster for this meet includes sophomores Chris Hays and Serita Lachesis in the 800-meter event and senior Carmen Ballard, freshman Abbie Dubin-Rhodin, and senior Liam Boylan-Pett in the 1500-meter race.
The sprinters will take to the track on Saturday, with Columbia sending athletes to the women’s 4x100-meter relay. Junior Elisse Douglas, senior Osamuede Iyoha, and freshman Melesa Johnson will race in the 100-meter hurdles. On both the men’s and women’s teams, the Lions will send a stacked group of athletes to the 400-meter dash, with Dubin-Rhodin, Lachesis, senior Yvonne Maginley, and freshman Samantha Lee competing for the women and senior Jonah Rathbun, freshman Jeff Moriarty, and senior Chris Hays racing in the men’s event. The 800-meter race should also be a significant event for both teams, as tough Light Blue lineups will take on impressive Ivy League competitors. Given that last year’s invitational proved a success for Columbia, the Lions may be looking to earn more individual qualifiers for NCAA regional championships.
The teams will head back to Manhattan to compete in the New York Relays at Icahn Stadium against local teams. Although the Lions did not race in the meet last year, they will be sending a core group of runners to battle in Sunday’s collegiate program. Senior Whitney Crayton and Iyoha will race in the 400-meter hurdles and will also make up part of Columbia’s 4x100-meter relay. Sophomore Stefan Vutescu will race in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.
Competition will last all day at each of the meets. The Lions’ next competition will be Thursday’s Penn Relays, an event at which the Light Blue men’s prevailed last season in the 4x800-relay.