Track Takes It In Stride at Penn Relays, Trains at Yale Invitational

Columbia track experienced success during the final two days of Penn Relays. While the Lions did not perform as outstandingly as they did last year, they managed to defeat tough Ivy League teams and place highly among nationally ranked competitors. The Light Blue then went on to compete in the Yale Springtime Invitational with some of its nascent athletes.

Friday saw the men’s distance medley relay take fourth over Brown, Harvard, Princeton, and Penn. Junior Ryan Hays, sophomore Chris Hays, sophomore Will Ballenthin, and senior Zach Richard finished the event with a time of 9:55.51. Although last year, the Light Blue DMR squad won the event, this year’s Lions managed to come within two seconds of the 2007 winning time and improved upon their indoor-season-best time.

Junior Elisse Douglass also took 15th in the triple jump eastern competition, and the Light Blue picked up two high Championship of America finishes on Saturday to finish out the relays. The women’s 4x800-meter relay team of sophomore Serita Lachesis, senior Erika Moses, freshman Abbie Dubin-Rhodin, and freshman Sam Lee finished ninth in the prestigious Championship of America heat with a time of 9:02.26. The Lions fell to Penn, Cornell, and Yale, with nationally ranked Jesse Carlin and the impressive Stacy Kim and Claire Kim heading the Quakers’ race effort.

The highly anticipated men’s Championship of America race yielded a third-place finish for Columbia. Sophomore Mike Mark, senior Jonah Rathbun, freshman Jeff Moriarty, and senior Liam Boylan-Pett finished the event with a mark of 7:24.82, falling only to number-five Texas and Louisiana State. The Lions managed to defeat the Penn and Dartmouth relay teams.

On Sunday, Columbia traveled with its younger athletes to New Haven to compete in the Yale Springtime Invitational. The Light Blue, competing with a large component of its field team, faced Army, Manhattan, Marist, Iona, and an incomplete Yale squad. Freshman Jeremy Whyte took second in the triple jump, while freshman Nicole Oparaeke won the same event for the women’s team. Junior J.P. McManus took third in the pole vault. On the runners’ side, freshman Katherine Carrington placed seventh in the 1,500-meter run, and freshman Jacqui Brown took sixth in the 400-meter dash. Oparaeke also placed ninth in the 100-meter dash, and junior Tyler Hendry placed fourth in the same event for the men’s team. Freshman Matt Stewart took fifth in the 800-meter race, and senior Whitney Crayton took third in the 400-meter hurdles, while sophomore Sean Quinn placed sixth in the same event.

The Lions have one more meet before Heptagonal Championships and will be appearing in the Princeton Invitational this weekend.