Current Varsity Athletes Best Grads in Track’s Alumni Meet
The annual track and field alumni meet pits the guts and raw talent of the alumni has-beens against the training of the current varsity team. The men’s and women’s varsity teams, fresh off a winter break spent in the weight room, proved up to the challenge. The women’s team won the meet by a score of 86-23, while the men’s meet came down to the wire, with the varsity team winning 70-61.
The meet began with the mile run, where Hana L. Adaniya ’07, Lauren L. McCarthy ’08, and Elizabeth M. Finn ’09 raced against Rachel M. Niehuus ’07 of the alumnae team. On the men’s side, Jacob J. Ruzevick ’09 paced alumnus Benjamin A. Schmeckpeper ’05, followed closely by Paul D. Welle ’11.
Major excitement ensued during the men’s 55-meter hurdle competition. Richard F. Rajter ’03, an assistant coach and alumnus, finished the race in a personal-record 7.77 seconds, only hundredths away from the national provisional qualifying time. In the 55-meter race, Margaret C. Leibovic ’10 dashed away from the rest of the field, finishing in a blazing 7.69 seconds. She followed that up with a decisive win in the 200-meter dash as well. On the men’s side, Stephen A. Morton ’10 silenced the smack-talking alumni and mirrored Leibovic’s double win, setting meet records in both the 55-meter and 200-meter dashes.
On the women’s side, Adrienne M. Bolger ’09 and Jacqueline M. Wentz ’10 both posted impressive 800-meter times, while Anna Holt-Gosselin ’11 beat All-American alumna Martha W. Buckley G in the 5,000-meter race with a time under 19 minutes. In a close 400-meter dash, Leanne Veldhuis ’08 finished just ahead of Andrea E. Bradshaw ’09 while alumna Meredith N. Silberstein G secured a third-place finish.
The men’s varsity team owned the 800-meter race, where Jacob J. Ruzevick ’09, John A. Granata ’11, William S. Phipps ’10, and Kevin G. Kleinguetl ’11 finished ahead of Eric A. Khatchadorian ’06. Jeremiah R. Cohen ’09 won the packed 5,000-meter race, followed closely by alumnus Schmeckpeper and varsity teammates Christopher Wong ’08 and M. Brian Jacokes ’08.
In the throwing events, Aline Thomas ’08 and Sarah C. Rich ’08 were uncontested, and James R. Oleinik ’09 and Anthony MacDonald ’10 of the varsity team had tough competition in Uzoma A. Orji ’06 and Todd N. Chamoy ’98.
The varsity women took first place in all of the jumps. Karen M. Davie ’07, Emily Hwang ’09, and Amy R. Magnuson ’10 each walked away with individual victories. The varsity men, however, split victories with the alumni team. Richard F. Rajter ’03 and Nathan B. Ball ’06 won the high jump and pole vault for the alumni team respectively, while Stephen A. Morton ’10 and Mattias S. Flander ’11 won the triple jump and long jump.
With the women’s meet in the bag, the stage was set for the 4x200-meter showdown. The lead-off legs of Bradshaw and Adeline L. Kuo ’02 handed off the batons to their second legs, where Kirsten H. Aarsvold ’11 tried to put distance between herself and Niehuus. Chi-Fong Wang ’07 then put in a gutsy effort and closed the gap behind varsity’s Hwang. With the relay close entering the final leg, Veldhuis pulled away from Silberstein in the anchor position to cap off the varsity team’s effort.
On the men’s side, the meet came down to the final 50 meters of the final race, a close 4x200-meter relay battle. Anthony D. Teixiera ’08 led off against Zachary J. Traina ’05. With the race still neck and neck, Matthew F. Bieniosek ’09 and Thaddeus J. Wozniak ’06 fought to give their anchor legs the lead. In the end, the race was close before Stephen W. Oney G took the lead against Matthew A. Lehman ’04 and refused to look back.
At the end of the meet, both varsity teams walked away with the victory and, given the race times, are poised to break records this season.