The Brandeis men's and women's track & field teams had four top-5 finishers at the Cupid Challenge on Saturday. Held at Tufts University, the meet featured some of the top Division III athletes in the country, as well as an array of Division I and II competitors.
Senior Vincent Asante (Bronx, N.Y./High School for Arts Imagination and Inquiry) paced the men's side. The senior co-captain was the third-faster runner in the 60-meter dash prelims, clocking in at 7.14 seconds. Asante was 0.03 seconds faster in the final, good for fourth place. Asante's career-best time of 6.98 seconds, set last month at the Dartmouth Relays, is still one of the fastest in Division III this year.
Sophomores Adam Berger (Concord, N.H./Concord) and Makalani Mack (Forest Park, Ga./Carver School of the Arts) both set new personal bests in the dash. Berger finished in 7.66 seconds, while Mack timed in at 8.06.
Brandeis' three other top-5 finishes came in the mile. On the men's side, rookie Quinton Hoey (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) placed fifth in the event, but second in Division III. His time of 4:25.17 was just 0.07 seconds off of his personal best and less than ¼ of a second behind Trinity's Patrick Hoagland.
Rookie Matt Doran (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale) finished 10th in the mile with a time of 4:27.19. Sophomore Grady Ward (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) placed 19th, while rookie Daniel Leon (New York, N.Y./Bronx H.S. of Science) was 25th.
Junior co-captain Mohamed Sidique (Harlem, N.Y./St. Raymond H.S. for Boys) was Brandeis' top finisher in both the 200 and 400. Sidique's first time running the 200 since 2012 resulted in a new career-best time of 24.69 seconds. His time of 53 seconds in the 400 was good for 16th place.
Mack finished 47th in the 200, timing in at 26.80 seconds. Rookies Nick Wactor (Oakland, Calif./Head-Royce) and Jeremy Wilson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) were 24th and 35th in the 400, respectively.
Sophomore Matt Becker (Mendon, Mass./Nipmuc Regional) placed 12th in the 800 with a time of 2:02.01. Rookie Josh Romanowicz (Peru, N.Y./Peru Central) was Brandeis' only competitor in the 600, clocking in at 1:37.69.
Rookie Mark Franklin (Auburn, N.H./Pinkerton Acad.) placed 13th in the high jump. Berger was 24th in both the triple jump and long jump, while sophomore Brendan Odze (Melville, N.Y./Half Hallow Hills East) finished 36th in the long jump.
On the women's side, four Brandeis athletes competed in two different events.
In the mile, senior Victoria Sanford (Andover, N.Y./Andover) and sophomore Kelsey Whitaker (Kingston, Mass./Notre Dame Acad.) both finished in the top five. Sanford grabbed second with a time of 5:07.94, while Whitaker's time of 5:13.20 was good for fifth. Sanford and Whitaker still own two of the 15 fastest mile times in Division III this season from their results at the Tufts Stampede on January 31.
Sophomore Molly Paris (Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) finished in 24th in the mile with a time of 5:46.75.
Junior Alyssa Fenenbock (Upper Saddle River, N.J./Northern Highlands Regional) had her best result of the season in the shot put, reaching a distance of 7.61 meters.
Both squads will compete in the New England Division III Championships next weekend at Springfield College. Brandeis hosts the UAA Championships on February 28 and March 1.