Men's track and field second best

The men’s track and field team took second place for the second week in a row, this time posting 184 points, losing narrowly to State University of New York Geneseo who had 203 points. SUNY Brockport was third with 140 points, Alfred State had 49 points to finish fourth and Nazareth College posted just three points in a fifth place finish. “We had some very good things happen, but it could have been a lot better,” Head Coach John Izzo said. “We made too many mental errors that cost us quite a few points, but hopefully they’re all behind us. People were already looking at BU, Cornell and the State meet and forgot that you have to get there first.” Despite some errors that have yet to be a major factor in the team’s performance so far this season, it was a solid showing overall. In the 55-meter dash, sophomores Matt Tierney and Kirk Bristol and senior Greg Dusek finished second, third and fourth respectively, posting times of 6.69, 6.74 and 6.79 seconds. Dusek and Bristol then teamed up with freshman Srinivas Boppana in the 200-meter dash, as they finished first, second and fifth. Dusek’s strong day continued in the 400-meter dash, when he and senior Jacob Budny took first and second places. Brian Strandberg and Jacob Pylman continued the trend when they too took first and second, this time in the 500-meter dash. Also in the 500, Ethan McKenny ran 1:11.63 to finish fifth. “We made some mistakes in the sprints that weren’t particularly good, but overall they had a solid day. We were dominating in point totals, but we’re still looking for that great day, not just the good day,” Izzo said. Senior Alex Voetsch ran 2:00.60 in the 800, finishing in first place. “It was his best race of the year,” Izzo said. “He’s still coming back from an injured fall, and he’s close to being back to where he wants to be. He’ll be ready by State meet time.” Also in the 800, Tierney ran 2:06.49 to finish sixth. Junior Matt Rodems was victorious in the 1,000 meter run, qualifying for Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships. In the 1,500-meter run, sophomore Chris Nolan and freshman Ben Snyder were fourth and sixth respectively, posting times of 4:18.19 and 4:21.14. Freshmen Andrew Whitbeck and Andrew Dylag were third and fifth in the 3,000-meter run. “Whitbeck is starting to get healthy again. He’s close to being 100 percent,” Izzo said. “I was very pleased with the distance runners in general. They’re starting to come around.” The 4 x 200-meter relay team of Tierney, Strandberg, Dusek and Adam Smith continue to run well, finishing first with a time of 1:36.29. Also finishing first was the 4 x 400-meter relay team, which ran 3:34.40 to easily defeat the second place Geneseo team. Budny posted a third place finish in the high jump, narrowly defeating freshman Tom Felio. Both marks were listed at 1.78 meters. Smith marked 4.11 meters to finish fourth in what Izzo said was “a very solid day in the pole vault.” To go along with a third place high jump and second place 400, Budny added a victory in the long jump, as he marked 6.04 meters. Also scoring in the event was Boppana, who marked 5.70 meters to finish fifth. Kevin McGettrick took first in the 3,000-meter race walk with a time of 17:45.08. The throwers remain one of the focal points of the team, as they continued to post solid scores and rack up valuable points. Placing third in the shot put, Andrew Wunder marked 13.43 meters. “He’s throwing very consistently, but we’re still looking for that big breakout throw that we all know he has,” Izzo said. Also scoring in the event, Andrew Lange was fourth and Joshua Hill was sixth. In addition to his shot put result, Andrew Wunder also posted a second place finish in the weight throw, as he marked 15.46 meters. “Across the lineup in the throws it was a fairly good week,” Izzo said. Most of the team will travel to Cornell this weekend, with some members of the team going to Boston University “with the purpose of breaking the school record and qualifying for Nationals in the 4 x 400, [but] it’s definitely not an ‘A’ team, ‘B’ team thing,” Izzo said. One of the fastest tracks in the country, BU gives some of the sprinters the opportunity to excel against some top tier competition. Also a highly competitive meet, the rest of the team will continue to prepare for the postseason meets at Cornell. In particular, Izzo said “we’re looking for the weight people to have a big day at Cornell.” If all goes as planned, all team members will have big days at both locations.Swidler can be reached at dswidler@campustimes.org.