The men?s track and field team posted another strong showing at the Hamilton Invitational last Saturday. Seven of the top Div. II teams in New York attended the non-scoring meet.
Senior Darren Gaul won the javelin event with a throw of 189 feet, four inches despite having an injured shoulder.
?I thought about not doing [javelin] this year to save my arm, but I enjoy it too much,? Gaul said. ?If you can?t play with pain, you?re not much of an athlete.?
Gaul will take this weekend off to rest his shoulder and prepare for the New York State Championships at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York May 3 and 4.
?[Gaul] is ranked no. 1 or 2 [in the state], it?s very close,? coach John Izzo said.
?There?s a very good thrower from Fredonia, and if they?re both throwing their best, [the state title] will be a toss-up,?he said.
?[Darren] is a pretty courageous guy. He knows every time he throws it?s going to hurt.?
Sophomore Dan Quinn won the hammer throw, his first collegiate victory, with a toss of 127 feet, 11 inches. ?[Quinn] is making massive improvement,? Izzo said. ?We?re very excited that he?s only a sophomore.?
Sophomore J.C. Rondash won the pole vault by vaulting 14 feet.
?[Rondash] is becoming very consistent,? Izzo said. ?I think he?s going to break the school record and go over 15 feet.?
UR?s relay teams had a good day, taking second place in both the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays.
Junior Justin Lamontagne, senior co-captain Jon Coyles, sophomore Brian Strandberg and senior Andy Locke ran the 4×100 relay in 43.35 seconds. Lamontagne, Coyles, senior co-captain Sam Albert and junior Damien Leonard finished the 4x 400 meter relay in three minutes, 22.85 seconds.
Lamontagne also placed second in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 55.16 seconds.
Locke took second place in the 200-meter race ? with a time of 22.81 seconds.
?We?re definitely showing that we?re a team that could win the state meet,? Quinn said.
UR will send athletes to compete in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400-meter relays and the 10,000-meter run this weekend at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
Most of the Yellowjackets will then travel to Ithaca to compete at the Cornell Invitational on Sunday.
Freshman Jacob Budny, junior Dan Levine and senior Chen Kenyon will go to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to compete in the NYSCTC Decathlon Sunday and Monday.
UR?s main focus right now is on qualifying as many people as possible for the State Championships and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.
More than half of the team has already qualified for both. This weekend is the last opportunity for the rest of the team to try and make it to post-season action.
?Because we have qualified so many people for both states and ECACs, it gives the team the luxury to choose what event they will run in this final meet to try and be All-State and All-ECAC,? Izzo said.
