Harriers run strong at Wesleyan

Their last event was held in Middletown, Conn. at the Wesleyan Invitational. The women did exceptionally well, winning four events. Kate Hamill ’03 took first in the 800m, Alyson Venti ’04 won the 1000m, Carter Hamill ’05 won the 1500 and the 4 x 800m relay team notched first. Laurel Kilgour ’03 grabbed second in the 600m. Shei placed third in the 400m as well as 14th in the 200m. Along with Kate Hamill’s win in the 800m, Helen Dole ’04 and Alison Rodriguez ’05 placed second and seventh. Kate Hamill also won the 1500m, with seniors Molly Burnett and Diana Rancourt taking second and third. Perez complemented Venti’s win in the 1000m with a second place finish. In the 3000m, Rebecca Woo ’02 led Cecily Brewer ’02, Lobsenz and Alison Dimon ’03 to a 3-4-5-6 finish. Erinn White ’04 had a personal record in the 5000m with a time of 18:49.04 and third place, and Sarah Degraaf ’05 finished right behind her in fourth. Lee-Jay Henry ’05 finished with successes in her jumps, as she placed fourth in the long jump and second in the triple jump. “Lee-Jay has gotten off to a good start with only two weeks’ training,” said Shei.

The men’s action was just as exciting. John Stanton-Geddes ’04 won the 1000m run, while Zeke Phillips ’05 finished in eighth. Stanton-Geddes also anchored the 4 x 800m relay team to a winning finish.

Janak Chandrasoma ’04 had a strong showing, taking sixth in the 200m and fourth in the 400m. Jack Morgan ’05 took second in the 600m as well as sixth in the 1500m with Phillips following in seventh. Rusty Ryan ’02 placed second in the 3000m. “Rusty had a really good 3k time,” said Cooper. “[This] shows he trained a lot over break, which was good.”

Hayes placed fourth in the 55m hurdles. David Molina ’05 ran to a personal record in the 800m with a 1:59.41, good enough for second place. Andrew Schneider ’04 grabbed the ninth spot in the same race.

The team’s first official meet of the year was the Brandeis Collegiate Invitational, held on Saturday, Jan. 19. The women’s team won with a score of 91 points. Many runners placed first in individual events. Kilgour won the 800m, with Perez in a close second and Anne McNamara ’04 placing 19th. Freshman phenomenon Carter Hamill won the 3000m in a school-record 10:09.59, while White and Hilary Plum ’03 took 15th and 16th. Both the 4 x 400m relay and the 4 x 800m relay teams won their races. In the 5000, Lobsenz and Brewer placed third and fourth. Henry showed her strength in the field competition with a second place showing in the long jump and fourth place in the triple jump.

The men also had a great start, finishing third after Bowdoin College and Stonehill. Stanton-Geddes led the men with a personal record of 8:43.76 and a third place finish in the 3000m. Matthew Katz ’05 and Alex Lenkoski ’03 placed 11th and 18th in the same race. Chandrasoma and Brian Hart ’03 took sixth and seventh places in the 400m run. Chandrasoma also placed fourth in the 200m in front of Jay Wagstaff’s ’05 16th place finish. Doug Norton ’05 and Cooper placed fifth and sixth in the 600m, while Phillips grabbed the seventh place finish in the 5000m. The 4 x 400m and 4 x 800m relay teams both claimed second place. In the 1000m, Schneider placed fifth in front of sophomore William Roe’s 23rd place finish. Molina ran to a fifth place finish in the 1500m, while Ryan took 13th. In the field competition, Paul Whiting ’04 had strong performances in the long jump and the triple jump, placing seventh and third. Julian Gibson ’05 placed seventh in shotput and 16th in the weight throw.

The first meet of the season for indoor track was the Holiday Classic at Tufts University, held in early December. Many members of the team did not compete due to the fact that they were finishing fall sports or just beginning to train for this season. Nonetheless, the Jeffs got off to a running start. The women were paced by Kilgour, who took second place in the 1000m with a time of 3:08.70. Shei’s personal record time of 1:44.43 put her in fourth place in the 600m. Perez finished fourth and sixth in the 1500m and the 800m, respectively, and also led off the 4 x 400m, which finished fifth. Dole took eighth in the 1500m, ran a leg of the relay, took 16th in the shot put, and finished eleventh in the triple jump to complete her busy day.

On the men’s side, the Jeffs enjoyed equally impressive performances. Chandrasoma led the team with a second place finish in the 400m, sixth in the 200m and ran a leg of the second-place finishing 4 x 400 relay team. Fellow sophomore Eric Osborne followed close behind Chandrasoma in the 200m with an eighth place finish. Also participating in the 400m run were Phil Jones ’04 and Nathaniel Mahlberg ’05, placing fifth and eighth, respectively. Other freshmen who had positive debuts were Jamal Aaron, who placed third in the 800m, Molina, who took fifth in the 1000m, Gibson, whose first throw of the shotput at the collegiate level resulted in a seventh place finish, as well as Norton and Ed McCabe, who placed seventh and eighth in the 600m. Also, Stanton-Geddes placed sixth in the 1000m and went on to a third-place finish in the 1500m. Whiting and Julius Nanna ’04 placed 13th and 14th in the long jump. Whiting did better in the triple jump, with a fourth place finish, while Nanna took seventh.

The indoor track team will attempt to continue its winning ways this Saturday at Tufts University. For now, they are satisfied with the results of their hard work. “We’re definitely off to a great start for the season,” said Shei.

“We’re going to get better from here,” said Cooper. ” The practices are going to be a lot easier. We’re going to have a lot more speed.”