UR Track & Field traveled to Boston this past weekend to compete at the Boston University Valentine Invitational and the MIT Gordon Kelly Invitational. The weekend was highlighted by broken records, national-caliber performances, and personal records (PR).
The weekend began for UR on Friday, with many women going head-to-head against some of the nation’s top runners in every division. Sophomore Alice Freese set a PR in the 800-meter run. From here, the quality performances continued throughout the meet.
Soon after Freese, in the 400-meter, sophomore Siobhan Seign ran a PR, while senior Laura Lockard qualified for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC). Additionally from the sprinting events, freshman Michaela Burrell and junior Colleen Arnold set personal bests in the 200- and 500-meter runs, respectively.
The stellar performances continued throughout many distance events. Senior Sam Kitchen and freshman Julia Myers both ran personal bests in the mile run. Kitchen’s time of 4:56.50 currently places her seventh in all of Division III.
To complete the day, graduate student Katie Knox ran a time of 17:13.98 in the 5K to break a 28-year-old school record and place her 10th in all of Division III. Additionally, senior Annie Peterson, sophomore Rachel Bargabos, junior Clara Wolfe, and sophomore Ari Hasbroke all set PRs.
“There were a lot of awesome performances all around. Our team is definitely peaking at the right time and building great momentum moving into championship season,” Kitchen said.
On Saturday, the men’s track team continued the trend and competed at a high level. Many individuals hit PRs, and two school records were broken throughout the day.
Getting off Rochester to strong start, junior Wesley Clayton, sophomore Chris Dalke, and freshman Leo Orsini were able to set personal bests in the 800-meter run. Moving forward, senior Brant Crouse, freshman Mark Westman, and senior Nate Kuhrt were also able to PR in the 400.
These performances were highlighted by Brant Crouse’s time of 48.44 seconds, which broke the previous school record. Brant would later return to the track and compete in the 200-meter run and break the previous school record, running a time of 22.12 seconds.
CJ Ruff and Frederico Hamas also set personal bests in the 200.
Later in the day, junior Sean Corcoran and Chris Cook ran a personal bests in the 500 and 1000, respectively, to keep the momentum going before the later events. In the mile, Senior Eric Franklin and freshman Ivan Frantz set personal bests.
The 4×400 team consisting of Nate Kuhrt, Brant Crouse, Wesley Clayton, and Mark Westman recorded a team best for the season, qualifying them for the ECAC meet in March.
Rounding out the day for UR at Boston University, sophomores Ben Martell and Hunter Phinney both ran strong races in the 3000-meter run.
“They were really special. Our team really stepped up to the heightened competition against many Division I schools and in many cases, came out better than we thought we could have,” senior Brant Crouse said.
UR also had many great performances at MIT.
Sophomore Kylee Bartlett, who currently sits first in all of Division III for the pentathlon, won both the 60 hurdles and high jump.
Additionally on the women’s side, senior Eibhlin Regan placed third in the weight throw en route to qualifying for the ECAC meet. On the men’s side, sophomore Harry Calmar placed fifth in the 60-meter run. Additionally, senior Adam Sorrentino placed fifth in the weight throw.
UR Track & Field will be competing this upcoming weekend at Utica College.
