The city of Ithaca treated the men’s indoor track and field team well this past weekend, as they had one individual champion, one champion relay team and many high-placing finishers.
The Yellowjackets traveled to their final regular invitational of the season last Saturday, where senior Matt Tierney won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.59 seconds. He also finished third in the 500-meter run in 1:08.36.
“It felt good to get a fast race and a win under my belt,” he said. “This will give me some momentum and confidence going into the state meet.”
The 4×800-meter team asserted its dominance over the field, placing first with a time of 8:00.94.
It proved to be a good day overall for the sprinters – senior Kirk Bristol was third in the 400-meter dash and freshman Marquis Turner was eighth, with times of 51.20 and 52.28, respectively. Sophomore Justin Papariella was seventh in the 200-meter dash, clocking in at 23.44, and Turner placed eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.47. Sophomore Jon DeRight was 11th in the 500-meter run with a time of 1:10.25.
In the 60-meter dash, sophomore Max Ehrmann placed sixth, clocking in at 7.26. The 4×400-meter relay team also had a strong showing, finishing third with a time of 3:30.37.
In the middle distance events, freshman Dana Kaplan was 16th and sophomore Jake Zucker was 17th in the 1,000-meter run with times of 2:45.50 and 2:45.97, respectively. Sophomore Luke Oleksa was16th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.93.
In the distance events, UR had three scorers in the 3,000-meter run. Junior Joe Lust was 10th with a time of 9:18.60, freshman Tom Brekke was 13th with a time of 9:23.68 and freshman Tyler Kieft was 14th, clocking in at 9:23.78.
The Yellowjackets were also very successful in the field events. Sophomore Eric Scheele took second place in the shot put, recording a 14.64 meter throw, and sophomore Mike Burgstrom was eighth with a distance of 13.04 meters.
Burgstrom also placed fifth in the weight throw with a distance of 15.20 meters and senior Jake Tyksinski was eighth, throwing 13.65 meters.
“As a team we are strong and determined. There is a high level of talent across the board and our coaches have done their very best to prepare us for this week at the state meet and the championships to come,” Scheele said. “Our season thus far has been a build up to this point and I believe that we will prevail and perform at our highest levels to be extremely successful.”
This weekend, the Yellowjackets will be participating in the New York State Championship meet held at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Tierney is excited about the team’s chance to come away with a title. “We have several guys who have had outstanding practices in the past few weeks and are ready to break out and produce some big-time marks this weekend,” he said. “We are a very good team and feel that if we perform to our potential, we’ll be right in the mix. If things break our way, a state championship is definitely a possibility.”
Philbrick can be reached at ephilbrick@campustimes.org.
