Undaunted by the heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, the men and women of the indoor track team continued to compete during the winter recess. Although many members of the team trained away from Brown, those remaining competed at the Sorlien Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island Jan. 15 and the Harvard Challenge at Harvard Jan. 22.
"The meets were just chances to see where everyone was at," said Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field Michelle Eisenreich.
At the Sorlien Invitational, the men finished last in the six-team field. In the 17 events that were scored, the men earned a total of 44 points compared to the 276.5 points accumulated by first-place finishers URI. The women did not have enough athletes present in order to score their performance.
For the men, newcomer Matt Bevil '14 posted a time of two minutes, 32.48 seconds in the 1,000-meter run to earn a first-place finish. Daniel Smith '13 also earned gold for Brown in the shot put, with a throw of 44 feet, 6.25 inches.
On the women's side, co-captain Brynn Smith '11 won the shot put, throwing 47-8.5 — a distance less than four feet behind her personal record.
"I always want to throw farther, so I'm not 100 percent fully satisfied with the distances," she said. "At this point in the season, I'm where I need to be."
At the Harvard Challenge, Brown teamed up with the Crimson to compete against the Patriot League's Army and Colgate University. The men did not succeed in their efforts, while the women came out victorious.
Once again, Daniel Smith won the men's shot put with a heave of 53-7, almost two feet farther than the next-best throw. The throwers came through again, when Brynn Smith claimed titles in both the shot put, 47-5, and the weight throw, 57-2.25.
"I'm really excited — Harvard was a really good meet for us," said Eisenreich, who works specifically with the team's throwers.
The sprinters also had some impressive performances. John Spooney '14 won the men's 200-meter dash in 20.12 seconds, and Colby Lubman '14 took the top spot in the women's 60-meter dash. For the women, Susan Scavone '12 also brought back a title in the 60-meter hurdles. Rachel Biblo's '11 triple jump of 39-8 was long enough to propel her into first place as well.
"We saw good performances at each meet," Eisenreich said. "They will sharpen over the next couple weeks."
With winter break left behind, Bruno will now have the opportunity to get in some more cohesive training, Brynn Smith said.
"People are in really good places right now," she said. "I'm excited to see what happens with everyone back."
The next challenge awaiting the team is the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, hosted by Northeastern University. The event will take place Friday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston.
