Both men's and women's track faced formidable opponents this past weekend at the Harvard Select Meet in Cambridge, Mass. The Brown men ended up in third (74.50) behind first place Cornell (163) and the University of Connecticut (152) while placing ahead of Ivy rival Harvard (48) and New Hampshire (25.50). Despite the third-place finish the Bears had several strong individual performances. But in the track events Brown struggled to get the points necessary to compete with Cornell and UConn.
In the 60-meter dash, Jonathan Edwards '09 finished in fifth place with a time of 7.16 seconds, while Joseph Mastrangelo '09 finished eighth in 7.21 seconds. In the 200 meter Mastrangelo took home a seventh-place finish with a time of 22.99 and Kevin Cervantes '10 finished eighth in 23.17.
Brown's best performances on the track came in the 3,000 meter and 800 meter races. In the 800 meter Sean O'Brien '09 earned a third-place finish, coming in at 1:54.05, while Alex Stern '10 finished right behind him at 1:55.00. In the 3,000 meter it was Ari Zamir '08 that finished strong with a third-place finish in a time of 8:20.23.
In the mile Nick Sarro '08 finished atop the Brown men with a time of 4:13.84, which was good enough for fourth place.
Strong field performance
The men's team's inability to capture any first-place finishes in the track events made it difficult to pick up crucial points in order to beat Cornell and UConn. On the other hand, the field events went a little better for the team as they captured some second-place finishes. Reginald Cole '10 had a particularly good day in the triple jump where he placed second with a jump of 48 feet, 05.25 inches. Although the second-place finish brought in key points to help the Bears beat Harvard, Cole was not completely satisfied with his performance.
"I was glad to bring in points for the team but I know my teammates and I have much more to bring to the table," he said. "I cannot settle for second place. I want to bring in more for my team with more first-place finishes."
Other notable finishes in the field events on the men's side included Eric Wood '09 with his second-place finish in the weight throw (53-06.25) and Tyler Prince '09 right behind him capturing third place (53-05.75) in the event. In the shot put another junior, David Howard '09, led the Bears with a fourth-place finish with a throw of 51-00.75.
Depth problems
Although beating Harvard, a key Ivy opponent, was thrilling, there is still much more the Bears want to accomplish. Some key losses, due to injury and other reasons, have created a lack of depth for the team, hurting the Bears this season.
"The men were excited to beat Harvard, but we do not have the depth to compete with Cornell and UConn at this time," said Head Coach Craig Lake. "We have lost two of our top sprinters this year. Paul Raymond ('08) has signed an agent in hopes of going to the NFL. We are ecstatic for Paul, but it is a tough loss to our team to have him on the sidelines instead of in the races. In addition, senior captain Jamil McClintock '08 recently had surgery and the recovery time will take a while, so we will miss him as well this indoor season. Losing these two is an enormous loss to the men's squad."
The men will look to build on their third-place finish next weekend as they travel to Yale.
"The key to our success in the upcoming weeks will be staying healthy and focusing on all of the little things that will help us to reach our potential," Lake said. "We cannot afford to slack. We need to rest and recover properly... so that we can compete with confidence in five weeks knowing we did all we could as a team."
Women step up
The women had a much more successful weekend than the men with a first-place overall finish and several outstanding individual performances. For the first time since 2001, Brown defeated the powerhouse of the Ivy League - Cornell. Beating Cornell was especially satisfying for the seniors.
"After the last event (Women's Triple Jump), Coach Lake gathered the team for a meeting," said Captain Akilah King '08. "When we saw Brown show up first on the board everyone started cheering! The upperclassmen were especially excited. Cornell has been such a powerhouse for the last four years, and those of us who are older are sick of them blowing teams out of the water."
In the meet at Harvard there were nine first-place finishes for the Bears. King took home two of those victories. One was in the triple jump (41-06.50), in which she also qualified for nationals.
"Qualifying for nationals was definitely a personal goal that I had set for the meet, but I was more concerned with getting the win for the team."
King was able to bring in some more valuable points for the team with her first-place finish in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.74 seconds.
Another very impressive individual performance was Smita Gupta's '08 first-place finish in the mile run with a time of 4:51.73, with the closest competitor coming in eight seconds behind. Lake was particularily impressed with Gupta's performance.
"She had an extremely impressive day as she dominated in the mile, demonstrating that she is a national class runner."
Gupta talked about the great personal accomplishment that eventually helped her team beat Cornell.
"Personally, I know that I have come a long way, as has our team," Gupta said. "So I know that we have every reason to carry that confidence and momentum into track. The performances were definitely a good start, and I know that there is much more to come."
In the track events, Nicole Burns '09 finished first in the 200 meter and 400 meter with times of 25.49 seconds and 56.05 seconds, respectively. Lucy Higgins '11 finished fourth in the 400 meter with 58.14 seconds. In the 800 meter Samantha Adelberg '11 took home first with a 2:13.70 finishing time. Ariel Wright '10 stole the show in the 3,000 meter race, finishing first in the event with a time of 9:53.07.
From the field
That was not the end to the success for the women on Saturday. There were other personal bests as Shannon Stone '10 finished fourth in the triple jump and Brynn Smith '11 finished first in the shot put.
The field events were not quite as successful for the Bears but still good enough to help the team bring home the overall title. Anna Cook '11 and Grace Watson '11 finished second and third in the high jump, both clearing 5'-05". In the pole vault event Tiffany Chang '08 finished third with a jump of 11-11.75. Behind her was Cassandra Wong '10 finishing sixth with 10-11.75. Lake wrote about her team's impressive weekend in an e-mail.
"I think the way we competed was a critical factor in the win," she wrote. "Our women competed very aggressively and confidently. We had a lot of strong individual performances."
The Brown women are looking ahead to next weekend as they are scheduled to compete at Yale along with the men. The women are going to try to build on the momentum from last weekend and continue to improve as the Ivy League Championships are rapidly approaching.
