Tag: men’s track

By Colin Fields

Staff Writer

The men’s track team, the defending Indoor and Outdoor Patriot League champion, racked up 12 individual victories at the Bucknell Team Challenge at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium last weekend. The Bison compiled 292.5 points, just under the rest of the field combined, in one of their best performances of the year.

The Orange and Blue throwers have been stellar all year long and Saturday was no different. Luke Webster ’13 came just six inches short of the school discus record that has stood for nearly 35 years with a toss of 168’ 6’’. Webster’s toss put him in both second in the meet and second in the school record books. Tom Barr ’12 also performed well in the discus; the shot put record holder put up a toss of 162’ 3’’, breaking the 160-foot mark for the first time in his career in the discus. Barr also posted a career best in the hammer throw, with a toss of 182’ 11’’. He was bested by teammate Leonard Joseph ’13 whose toss of 204’ 5’’ moved him to third place in Bison history.

“I would say that the start our team has had is encouraging because most of our athletes, if not all, are not peaking yet, but they are performing extremely well. Having two consecutive home meets allows us to capitalize on a familiar environment as well as a larger audience than we typically have,” Joseph said.

Jason Brown ’13, Nathaniel Witter ’14 and Alex Prieto ’14 picked up wins in the high jump, pole vault and the long jump. Andrew Powell ’12 and Kevin Keller ’15 also picked up second-place finishes for the Bison.

Christian Lupica ’15 took first in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.7 seconds and teammates Robert Arent ’12, Dan Mularz ’12 and Powell helped fill four of the top five spots in the event.

“Being able to have our two meets at home is definitely a nice perk. We train on the track every day so we are familiar with running on it, and not having to worry about travel time and living out of a hotel makes it a lot easier to have a flexible routine and eat/sleep/warm-up in a way that is best for you,” Lupica said.

Several Bison will compete this weekend in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, while the test of the team will travel today to Bloomsburg for the Maroon & Gold Invitational. These are the last events for the Bison until the Patriot League Outdoor Championships on May 4-5 in Worcester, Mass.

By Colin Fields
Staff Writer

The men’s track team had an impressive performance as the host university of the Bison Outdoor Classic. The event is unscored for team competition but the Bison toppled more than 20 top-10 marks and are pressing for a third straight outdoor title.

On Sunday, Ray Holmes ’14 increased his career best by nearly two feet in the triple jump with a distance of 48’ 8’’, ranking him third all-time at the University.

“We have a great team this year and our start this season shows the depth of our team on both the men’s and women’s side of the program. We have already had a lot of great performances and everybody is getting better as the weeks tick away towards the Championships,” Holmes said.

The Bison throwers have torn through the Bison record books this season, and last weekend was no different. Leonard Joseph ’13 placed second in the hammer toss by becoming the fourth Bison to ever clear the 200 foot mark and moving him into fourth in Bison history.

There were plenty of personal records broken over the weekend, including Daniel Markwalter ’13 placing third in the pole vault clearing 15’ 9’’, moving him into fourth in program history.

On the track Robert Arent ’12 and Christian Lupica ’15 performed well in the 400 meter hurdles. Arent finished third with a time of 53.02 and Lupica 10th with a time of 55.08 seconds, moving him into the top 10 in Bison history.

“As a team, we’ve been training hard and not really worrying about peaking yet, so the fact that we are still competing so well as a whole just means that by the championship portion of our season, when everyone is at their peak form, we are going to be a really tough team to beat,” Lupica said.

The Bison are hosts again this weekend at the Bison Team Challenge, the season finale for the Bison at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

“Competing at home allows us to be more relaxed and comfortable which is conducive to getting good marks on the track and in the field. We’re looking to win our third outdoor championship in a row. Getting this outdoor season off to a good start puts us in good position to defend our championship title,” Arent said.

The Patriot League Championships will be held May 4 and 5 in Worcester, Mass. 

By Chris McCree
Sports Editor

Entering the weekend as reigning champions, the men’s track and field team claimed second in a field of 27 teams at the Colonial Relays this past weekend in Williamsburg, Va. The Orange and Blue finished behind a talented Michigan squad by 18 points, recording a total of 149 points.

Highlighting the meet for the Orange and Blue was Robert Arent ’12, who broke his own school record in the 110 meter hurdles by .01 seconds. Finishing in a time of 14.31 seconds, Arent claimed second in the race, but was the top collegiate finisher.

Trailing Arent by .16 seconds in the race was Christian Lupica ’15 who claimed seventh for the Orange and Blue, recording a personal-best time of 14.47 seconds.  Lupica also claimed ninth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.69 seconds.

Other top finishers for the Bison were Kamal Riley ’14 and Ray Holmes ’14, who placed second and fourth in the 100 meter sprint and triple jump respectively. After placing fifth in the semi-final heat, Riley jumped up three spots in the finals, securing valuable points for the Bison. Riley capped off his meet by competing in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, helping the squad to a pair of fourth places finishes.

Mike McGowan ’15 earned the team’s best finish in the distance events by taking second in the 10,000 meter run. McGowan beat his seed time by more than 47 seconds, finishing in 30:22.55.

In the field events, the Bison were able to secure multiple top-10 finishes, including a sweep of the top two spots in the shot put by Quinten Marcott ’13 and Luke Webster ’13. Leonard Joseph ’13, Tom Barr ’12 and Ted Mottola ’13 each placed in the top five of the hammer throw with Joseph leading the group in second place with a 59.19 meter throw.

After opening up their spring season with a pair of away meets, the Orange and Blue have two home meets over the next two weeks. This weekend, the Bison will host the Bison Outdoor Classic starting at 12 p.m. on Friday.

By Colin Fields

Writer

Tom Barr ’12 continued his dynamite senior season Saturday with yet another track and field program record in the shot put. Although the event was unscored for team play, 10 other Bison were victorious in Towson, Md. this weekend as the Bison opened up their title defense in this yearʼs outdoor season.

Barr, who had already broken the Bison indoor shot put record earlier this year, continued his success by crushing his old outdoor record. Barr broke his previous outdoor best by two feet, launching a toss of 54’ 2.5’’. Barr broke the outdoor record previously held by Timothy “Big Tim” Medlock who threw for 53’ 5’’ in 2009. Barr finished second overall in the event but was not done after the shot put. In his next event, the hammer throw, Barr picked up a victory with a career best mark of 174’-8’’. Barrʼs performance in the hammer throw placed him in the top 10 in program history for yet another event. Barr then finished fifth in the discus, giving him three top-five spots at the Towson Invitational.

“I am happy to beat Timʼs record,” Barr said. “Records are meant to be broken, and as a former Bison Tim left his record as a challenge for someone to beat, and I am glad that I rose to the occasion. I feel confident moving forward into 2012 after my victories this weekend because every time we compete, it is a test of our technique and conditioning.”

Laddie Trees ’15 showed promise in the javelin, joining Barr with a solid performance in throws. Trees won the javelin in his first-ever outdoor meet, tossing a mark 208’ 7’’ and placing seventh on the all-time list. Teammate Stephen Koullias ’13 also performed well, placing fourth in the shot put with a throw of 51’ 11.25’’. His mark was only 2.75 feet shy of Barrʼs record and placed him in sixth overall in Bison history. Luke Webster ’13 kept the train rolling with a win of his own in the discus with a toss of 157’ 9’’.

On the track, Ray Holmes ’14 picked up two victories in both the triple jump and the long jump. Robert Arent ’12 and Dave Brown ’12 were also successful in their hurdles events. Arent picked up the victory in the 400 meter hurdles and second in the 110 meter hurdles while Brown grabbed another Orange and Blue victory in the 1500 meter hurdles. Justin Hicks ’13, who was the Outstanding Athlete of the Meet in the Patriot League Indoor Championships, won the 100 meters, and Dustin Horning ’13 won the 800 meters.

The Bison will look to continue their success in the upcoming Colonial Relays April 6-7 at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.