The men's and women's indoor track teams opened up their respective seasons at Saturday's Alden Invitational, hosted by Brown in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center. The men won five titles, while the women earned nine top finishes.
In addition to these victories, John Sheridan '13 won the 55-meter dash in 6.50 seconds while competing as an unattached athlete. Sheridan is a current member of Brown's baseball team, with aspirations of running for the indoor track team. Sheridan's time is promising — last year in the 55, standout sprinter John Spooney '14 ran his personal- best time of 6.49.
"I've never run a track meet — yesterday was my first one," Sheridan said. "But my dad ran track in college, and my mom also ran track in college, and I play baseball here, so I knew I had some sort of speed."
Sheridan said he first entertained thoughts of running for the track team last year but was not prepared in time for the season-opening Alden Invitational. This year, he started training early to prepare for the invitational and also received advice from his dad and the track coaches, Sheridan said. He said being on the baseball team helped him train for this race.
"For baseball, we do a pretty good job of strength and conditioning in the fall," Sheridan said. "Like I said, my game in baseball is speed, so I do a lot of speed work there, but nothing specifically for the 55 or for track-oriented speed work."
Sheridan said though he wants to run for the indoor track team, baseball is his focus and he wants to win an Ivy League Championship
during the 2012 season. "Obviously baseball would be
my priority, so any practice or workout put into track would have to come in between my baseball stuff," he said. "I wouldn't want to be that guy who is there on the side, when other people are working really hard at (training) every single day. But if that opportunity was available, I would definitely take it."
Sheridan said he had no expectations going into his first race and just wanted to test himself after hearing about his dad's track experiences at the University of California at Riverside.
"Start was my weakest point," Sheridan said. "My dad describes it as being a ‘swooper,' I guess is the terminology. Slower out of the blocks and building up speed at the end. He was more of a swooper and so he told me, even if you feel like you're slow out of the blocks, just power through because you're going to keep building speed, right as the race is about to end."
Other athletes on the team also put forth strong performances.
On the men's side, Matthew Miller '15 won the shot put with a heave of 14.31m and Peter Rhodes '15 placed first in the long jump with a leap of 6.75m. On the track, Samuel Howard '14 won the 300 in 35.60.
Newcomers led the women, with three first-years winning their individual events. Gabrielle Gennaci '15 took home the title for the women's high jump, clearing 1.53m, and Monica Pechanec '15 soared 3.50m in the pole vault to win the event. Lauren Waterbury '15 finished the 300 in 40.75 to claim the top spot.
The Bears will next tear up the track Jan. 13 and 14 at the Sorlien Invite in Kingston, R.I.
