Senior Frank Ramirez ran his way from the second heat to the top finish in the 800-meter run. Campus Times Archives.
The UR men’s track team outshone much of its competition this past weekend in Manhattan, N.Y., finishing second and losing only to Farmingdale State University by a mere three points. The meet was the NYU Team Challenge — an invitational that was hosted at the legendary Armory track, the same place that ECACs will be held later this season.
Two ‘Jackets took home the gold — senior A.J. Lee in the 500-meter run and classmate Frank Ramirez in the 800-meter run. Lee took first in his event over a pool of 17 competitors with a time of 1:06.32, and was followed up shortly by junior Nick Chisholm, who finished in 1:07.30.
Ramirez, despite being placed in the second heat, took first over a field of 30 runners. His time of 1:55.03 was almost a full two seconds faster than the second place time.
Ramirez easily wins the second heat of the men’s 800-meter run. His time was also fast enough to take first overall in the event. Courtesy: Dan Suher
Chisholm and senior Justin Lyttleton took fifth and sixth place in the 200-meter dash, with times of 23.15 and 23.25, respectively. The men’s 4×400-meter relay, made up of Chisholm, Lee, Lyttleton and freshman Andrew Keene, also took first place in 3:25.86.
In addition, Lyttleton also took fourth in the 60-meter dash, while freshman Yuji Wakimoto and senior Brian Thomson took third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,000-meter run.
Senior Dan Lane ran the mile in 4:23.27 to earn him fifth overall and junior Jamie Vavra placed third in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:47.95.
Senior Jim Milks threw 12.98 meters in the shot put to take fifth, while classmate Jake Gardner placed fourth in the weight throw (15.76 meters).
The women also placed second, only behind SUNY Oneonta.
Senior Yeneve Fonge led the women with yet another week of field-event prowess. Fonge broke her own personal best and school record for the third week in a row — most impressively however, she automatically qualified the NCAA national championship meet. She tossed an incredible 18.40 meters in the weight throw, flying by the 18.00-meter qualification distance for the NCAA nationals. Fonge also took first in the shot put over a field of 13 throwers, with a monstrous hurl of 12.12 meters.
Junior Lauren Norton also provisionally qualified for nationals with a blazing fast time of 5:01.12 in the mile, which earned her second. Senior Jackie Cinella placed fourth in the 800-meter run, followed less than a half second later by Norton. Their times were 2:20.63 and 2:21.03, respectively. Cinella, senior Casey Green, sophomore Claire Crowther and freshman Abby Zabrodsky won the 4x400m relay in 3:59.72 to wrap up the day.
Penney is a member of the class 2012.
