The men's and women's track & field teams had several excellent performances at the Brown Springtime Invitational on Saturday. Sophomore Kelsey Whitaker (Kingston, Mass./Notre Dame Acad.) won her event, and the Judges had four second-place finishes and a slew of top-10 performances.
The meet, held at Brown University, featured a mix of Division I and III runners, as well as several unaffiliated athletes.
On the men's side, junior Mohamed Sidique (Harlem, N.Y./St. Raymond H.S. for Boys) had a pair of second-place finishes in jumping events. He reached 20 feet in the long jump and 46 feet, four inches in the triple jump.
Sophomore Matt Becker (Mendon, Mass./Nipmuc Regional) had the highest track finish on the men's side – he was fifth in 800 with a time of 2:02.72.
Rookie Quinton Hoey (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) was sixth in the 3K, finishing only behind five runners from Brown. He timed in at 9:06.99.
Classmate Nick Wactor (Oakland, Calif./Head-Royce) had a pair of seventh-place finishes. He ran the 200 in 23.27 and the 400 in 52.17. He set a new PR in the 400 and was just 1/100th of a second off of his best time in the 200.
Sophomore Adam Berger (Concord, N.H./Concord) was 17th in the 200, while rookie Jeremy Wilson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) was 18th. Both set new career bests. Wilson was ninth in the 400 with a time of 53.97.
A pair of sophomores both competed in the 400-meter hurdles. Trevor Tuplin (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) finished 10th, while Brandon Odze (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) was 12th. Rookie Ben Pomerantz (Barrington, R.I./Barrington) and sophomore Eddie Tai (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) were 22nd and 23rd, respectively, in the 100-meter dash.
In the rest of the field events, Berger was fourth in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump, with distances of 19'1" and 41'7"(5.82 and 12.69), respectively. Rookie Mark Franklin (Auburn, N.H./Pinkerton Acad.) was seventh in the long jump and also took third in the high jump.
Junior Jonathan Gilman (Yardley, Pa./George School) placed fourth in the javelin with a distance of 158 feet, four inches. Sophomore Kevin Trotman (Bristol, Conn./Taft School), competing in his collegiate track meet, was ninth in the discus. Trotman is a forward on the men's basketball team.
The men's team had two relays compete as well. The 4x100 team was fifth, while the 4x400 finished third, losing out only to Brown and the University of Connecticut.
Whitaker won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.58. It was a career best for the sophomore, knocking 1/3 of a second off of her time at an indoor meet in February. She outran nine Division I runners in the field of 30.
Senior Amelia Lundkvist (So. Portland, Maine/Cheverus) finished seventh in the 800, timing in at a career-best 2:17.52. The field was packed at the top and the race to the finish line was incredibly close: runners 5-8 crossed the line less than half second apart.
Rookie Maddie Dollins (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) finished second in the 5K, finishing in 18:01.97, a career best. She was just 1/3 of a second behind the winner, and nine seconds ahead of third place.
Senior Victoria Sanford (LaGrangeville, N.Y./Andover) was second in her event as well. She ran the mile in 5:09.14, 0.17 seconds behind the Brown runner that won the event. Junior Kristi Pisarik (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) was sixth in the mile, shaving nearly three seconds off of her personal best with a time of 5:22.56. Sophomore Molly Paris (Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) placed 17th with a PR of her own.
Both the men's and women's teams are back in action this weekend, competing in the Eric Loeschner Invitational at Fitchburg State.