WALTHAM, Mass. – Both Brandeis University track and field teams finished in second place at the annual Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational today. The Judges combined for eight event wins, five for the women, three for the men. The women finished with 97 points and finished behind Division II Assumption College, while the men had 83 and trailed only Division I Merrimack.
The women had a pair of double winners thanks to their victory in the 4x400-meter relay. Sophomore Devin Hiltunen (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) captured the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.78 seconds, winning by seven-hundredths of a second. She also anchored the winning 4x400 team to a margin of more than a second and a quarter, as they finished with a time of 4:16.25. The third leg of that relay was run by rookie Sydney D'Ammadio (Amston, Conn./RHAM), who also won the individual 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.55, winning by two-tenths of a second from the second heat. Two other rookies ran the first two legs of the 4x400, Yahni Lapa (West Newton, Mass. / Newton North) and Victoria Morrongiello (Staten Island, N.Y. / Susan E. Wagner), while Hiltunen also earned a point with a sixth-place finish in the individual 400 (1:04.40).
The Judges picked up two more wins in the middle and long-distance races. Junior Andrea Bolduc (Auburn, Mass./Auburn) captured the mile run with a time of 5:14.38, nearly five seconds faster than her next competitor. Sophomore Natalie Hattan (Sugar Land, Texas / Clements) added a third-place finish in 5:32.83, a personal-best.
In the 3,000-meter run, the Judges showed their depth by taking the top four spots. Junior Niamh Kenney (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) won the event with a time of 10:45.58, while senior Danielle Bertaux (Prides Crossing, Mass./Beverly) was second (10:48.99), sophomore Erin Magill (Moretown, Vt. / Harwood Union) was third (10:56.98) and sophomore Kate Danziger (Potomac, Md. / Winston Churchill) was fourth (11:03.49) despite running in the slower of the two heats.
The Judges had three other events with scoring performances. In the 600-meter run, Morrongiello was second with a time of 1:46.97, while junior Lisbeth Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) was third in 1:47.44. Senior Willa Moen (Ashland, Ore. / Ashland) was third in the inaugural pentathlon competition at this meet, posting a college-best mark of 2545 points after finishing fourth in four of the five events. Senior Lydia Harris (Damariscotta, Maine / Lincoln Academy) PRed in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10 seconds flat, good for fifth place.
On the men's side, senior Jack Allan (Wrentham, Mass./King Phillip Regional) led the way with a PR in the heptathlon of 4639, the second-best performance in Division III so far this season. Allan was in the three of six of the seven events, winning the long jump (6.43m, 21-1 ¼), 60-meter hurdles (8.72 seconds) and pole vault, the last in a lifetime-best 3.74 meters (12-3 ¼). Sophomore Dion Morris-Evans (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest) was second in the heptathlon, with a mark of 4198 points, the sixth-best in Division III so far this season. This was Morris-Evans' first collegiate heptathlon, and he won the 1,000 (3:00.44), finished second in the high jump (1.91m, 6-3 ¼) and third in the long jump (6.27m, 20-7).
Brandeis's other two wins for the men came on the track. Junior Patrick Quinlan (Northampton, Mass. / Northampton) won the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.46 seconds, 0.18 seconds faster than the runner-up. Sophomore Jamie O'Neill (Auburndale, Mass./Newton North) was fourth in the 400 in 53.31. Winning the 3,000-meter run for the Judges was sophomore Matthew Driben (Reading, Pa./Wyomissing Area), who posted a time of 9:07.75.
The Judges had two other events with multiple scorers. In the pole vault, junior Breylen Ammen (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) and sophomore Aaron Corin (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) each reached a height of 4.00 meters, with Ammen tying for second and Corin finishing fourth on the number of attempts. In the 200-meter dash, senior Lorenzo Maddox (Atlanta, Ga./Maynard Jackson) was second in 23.18 seconds, while rookie Dean Campbell (Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. / Manchester-Essex Regional) snagged the final scoring spot in sixth with a time of 23.61 seconds, just 0.09 seconds ahead of the seventh-place finisher.
Other scoring performances came from:
- Sophomore Jacob Grant (Rockville Center, N.Y. / South Side), 5th place, 600m, 1:27.13
- Grad student Jacob Judd (West Hartford, CT / Conard), 3rd place, 800m, 2:03.54
- Senior Alec Rodgers (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield Memorial), 6th place, mile, 4:37.09
- Junior Aaron Baublis (Westborough, Mass./Westborough), 4th place, 60m hurdles, 8.85 seconds
- Rookie Thomas Vandalovsky (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood), 5th place, shot put, 13.51m (44-4)
The Judges return to action next weekend when they head to Bowdoin College for the second Bowdoin Invitational of the season.