Men's track kicks off the season with a victory

The men’s indoor track and field team started out what looks to be an exciting season with a decisive victory in Sunday’s UR Invitational. “I was very pleased. We were rusty but efficient,” Head Coach John Izzo said. The meet got off to a promising start when three runners scored in the top six in the 55-meter dash. Junior Greg Dusek led the way with a first place finishing time of 6.77 seconds. He was followed by Jacob Budny in third and Jason Myszka in sixth. Senior Brian Strandberg continued the first place finishes for the men, winning the 200-meter dash by more than a full second. Myszka and Srinivas Boppana also scored in the 200, finishing fifth and sixth. Strandberg’s strong day continued with a win in the 400-meter dash, which was dominated by the UR team. Dusek and Kirk Bristol finished second and third, and Graham Pierce was sixth. In the 500-meter dash, sophomore Matt Tierney continued the UR winning streak, four seconds ahead of his closest competitor. He was followed by Jacob Plyman in third and Adam Smith in sixth. Sophomore Chris Clark added to the scoring with a second place finish in the 800-meter dash, good for eight points. Matt Rodems and freshman Ben Snyder were second and fifth respectively in the 1,000-meter run. In the 1,500-meter run, sophomore Chris Nolan placed third and freshman Andrew Whitbeck was sixth. Three Rochester Institute of Technology runners took the top spots in the 3,000-meter run, while sophomore Andrew Dylag, juniors Peter Nabozny and Ian Slattery were fourth, fifth and sixth. Two UR men placed in the 55-meter high hurdles, as Jacob Budny and Michael Hakiel finished first and sixth respectively. The men’s relay teams continued their strong performances from last season, finishing in either the first or second spots in all three events. The 4×200-meter relay team of Strandberg, Michael Hakiel, Smith, and Dusek was first overall with a time of 1:37.73. Also finishing first, the 4×400-meter relay team of Hakiel, Strandberg, Dusek and Clark completed the race in 3:32.01. The 4×800-meter relay team finished in second place with a time of 8:35.18. It consisted of Matt Rodems, Ben Snyder, Pylman and Tierney. Freshman Tom Felio won the high jump with a mark of 1.80 meters, and was joined in the scoring by Budny, who tied for second with a mark of 1.75 meters. Smith placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.96 meters. Hakiel dominated the long jump, marking 5.98 meters. His closest challenger was Boppana, who was second with a mark of 5.77 meters. Hakiel capped an impressive day in the triple jump, placing second with a mark of 12.40 meters. Continuing the trend for the day, the men controlled the shot put, as UR athletes held four of the top six spots. Senior Andrew Wunder led the way with a mark of 14.14 meters. Andrew Lange marked 13.00 meters to finish second, ahead of teammates Zack Opsitnick, Brian Ecker and Jacob Tylzinski, who were third, fifth and sixth respectively. Wunder also won the weight throw, as the men took first through fourth places in the event. Wunder was followed by Lenroy Stevens, Joshua Hill and Opsitnick. Kevin McGettrick completed a very successful day with a third place finish in the 3,000-meter race walk. “We had some very fine performances given the fact that we had been off for a month. It was very obvious that everyone worked over break. The sprinters did a great job, the weight people did an excellent job. We scored points out of every discipline,” Izzo said. For the next two meets, the men will go to St. Lawrence, which will prepare them for the conference meet later in the season. “The next two weeks our intention will be to go after qualifying marks. St. Lawrence is a very fast track, and the more chances we get to run where we run the conference meet, the better,” Izzo said. Swidler can be reached at dswidler@campustimes.org.