Carleo wins 800-meter run at Amherst Spring Fling

TJ Carleo running in a race
TJ Carleo '26 (Photo by Sportspix.com)

AMHERST, Mass. – The Brandeis University track and field teams competed on Saturday afternoon at the Amherst College Spring Fling. The meet was highlighted by a win in the 800-meter run by first-year TJ Carleo (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport).

TOP PERFORMANCES - MEN

  • Carleo ran the 800 in a personal best 1:52.64. He bested his previous p.r. by 1.14 second and won the race by about 1.5 seconds. Carleo's time is currently ranked 16th in Division III this season.
  • He also led of a 4x400-meter relay team that finished in sixth place, along with junior Samuel Kim (La Jolla, Calif. / Phillips Exeter (N.H.), senior Dion Morris-Evans (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest) and junior Ori Slotky (Closter, N.J. / Northern Valley Regional) with a time of 3:28.39.
  • The Judges put two runners in the top three of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with sophomores Lucas Dia (Montclair, N.J. / Montclair) finishing as the runner-up in 10:15.18 and Dashiell Janicki (New York, N.Y. / HS for Math Science and Engineering at City College) taking third in a p.r. 10:15.97.
  • Slotky and Kim also turned in individual top-10 finishes in the 400-meter hurdles, with Slotky coming in eighth in 59.41 seconds and Kim in ninth in 59.99, his first time breaking one minute in the event.
  • Slotky added a seventh-place finish in the triple jump at 11.24 meters (36-10 ½), one place behind sophomore Lin-Lin Hutchinson (Portland, Ore. / Ida B. Wells).
  • Morris-Evans was also outstanding in the field events, where he finished fifth in both the high jump (1.80 meters, 5-10 ¾) and the long jump (6.49m, 21- 3 ½).
  • Senior Artemis Reynolds (Cherry Valley, Mass. / Leicester) took fourth place in the discus throw with a heave of 38.01 meters (124-8). They were also ninth in the hammer throw at 39.99 meters (131-2).
  • Sophomore Cam Peirce (Kittery, Maine / Portsmouth Christian Academy) had two top-10 finishes in throwing events, coming in sixth in the shot put (12.61 meters, 41-4 ½) and 10th in the discus (32.42 meters, 106-4).
  • Senior Jonathan Hau (Taipei, Taiwan / Taipei American School) was sixth in the javelin at 40.60 meters (133-2) and first-year TJ Showstead (Plymouth, Mass. / Plymouth North) was eighth at 31.80 meters (104-4).

TOP PERFORMANCES – WOMEN

  • The women's strengths came in the hurdles, where the Judges picked up two fourth-place finishes. In the 100-meter hurdles, it was junior Alya Campbell (Eastchester, N.Y. / Eastchester), who turned in a time of 15.25 seconds. In the 400-meter event, it was senior Yahni Lapa (West Newton, Mass. / Newton North) in fourth in 1:07.06. Sophomore Hannah Bohbot-Dridi (Mountain View, Calif. / Los Altos) was fifth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:08.83.
  • Brandeis took seventh, eighth and ninth place in the 5000-meter run, paced by sophomore Zada Forde (Amherst, Mass. / Amherst Regional) in 19:00.05; first-year Katriona Briggs (Menlo Park, Calif. / Menlo-Atherton) in 19:39.92; and first-year Calli Morvay (Littleton, Mass. / Littleton) in 20:43.73. The latter two were personal-best times.
  • The Brandeis women also had plenty of top-10 finishes in field events. Fresh of two wins earlier in the week at Regis, junior Smiley Huyhn (Bronx, N.Y. / Bronx H.S. of Science) placed sixth in the long jump (5.02m, 16-5 ¾) and seventh in the pole vault (3.15m, 10-4).
  • Junior Kirsten Man (Kendall Park, N.J. / South Brunswick) was sixth in the triple jump (10.52m, 34-6 ¼), while junior Olivia Zarzycki (Belmont, Mass. / Belmont) was seventh in the high jump (1.43m, 4-8 ¼).
  • First-year Emma Liu (Taipei, Taiwan / Phillips Exeter Academy) was seventh in the hammer with a personal-best heave of 38.49 meters (126-3) and classmate Shaniece Nugent (Hartford, Conn. / Lawrence Academy) was ninth in the long jump at 4.87 meters (15-11 ¾).
  • Two relays finished in fourth place, as senior Devin Hiltunen (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) was joined by Nugent, Huyhn and Campbell in the 4x100 as they poste a time of 49.79 seconds.
  • Junior Liz Korn (Piedmont, Calif. / Piedmont), Lapa, senior Victoria Morrongiello (Staten Island, N.Y. / Susan E. Wagner) and Bohbot-Dridi were fourth in the 4x400meters in 4:07.73  

UP NEXT

  • The Judges will send competitors to Connecticut College for the Silfen Invitational and Smith College for the Carla Coffey Invitational this weekend.