This past weekend, the men's track and field team split up to compete in two separate meets. Qualifiers traveled to the 110th running of the Penn Relays, while the rest of the team remained in Providence to host the Brown Springtime Invitational on Sunday.
Down at Penn, Philly native Ray Bobrownicki '06 cleared 6-11 3/4 in the high jump for the second week in a row. The jump was good for a third-place finish overall and ranks Bobrownicki as the top high jumper in the Ivy League heading into the Heptagonal Championship.
Another notable performance came from cross country captain Matthew Emond '04, who ran a 14:20.36 in the 5,000-meter run. His third-place finish was even sweeter, since the senior set a personal record and broke into Brown's top-10 list.
Also on the track, the 4x400-meter relay team pulled off a personal best with a time of 3:14.77. Leadoff leg and co-captain David Owen '04 went under 48 seconds, as did anchor leg Dallas Dissmore '06. The other two relay legs, Christian Tabib '07 and Eldridge Gilbert '05, ran splits of 49.1 seconds.
"It is the biggest meet I have ever been to, so running in front of all the people there was a lot of fun," Tabib said. "It made everyone on the relay step it up another level and really go out and compete."
But the squad's personal best was only good for third in the All-Ivy heat, two seconds behind victorious Princeton University and less than 0.20 seconds behind second-place finisher Cornell University.
"We have been looking forward to racing Princeton and Cornell since they both beat us at the indoor Heps, and it was exciting to know that we are very close to beating them. We have confidence that we will get them at outdoor Heps," Tabib said.
On Sunday at the Brown Springtime Invitational, Bruno took over with nine victories with even more strong showings.
In the sprints, Michael Pruzinsky '07 beat out Lawrence Aidno of the Community College of Rhode Island by one-hundredth of a second, taking the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.89. Pruzinsky also finished second in the 200-meter dash behind Owen, who ran at both meets. Owen took the 200 heat with a time of 21.72.
Bruno took the one-two punch in the hurdles with Daveed Diggs '04 and Tabib. Diggs took the 110-meter with a time of 14.82, while Tabib, who also competed in both meets this weekend finished second in the 400-meter with a time of 56.69.
The distance team swept positions one through three in the 1,500-meter run, led by Pat Tarpy '05, with a time of 3:52.21. Tarpy, who won the 1,500 at the University of Connecticut Invitational last week, has been consistent ever since returning from an injury-filled indoor season. Eamon Quick '07 took second in the event, while Owen Washburn '06 rounded out the top three for Brown. The Bears also grabbed fifth place, as Tushar Gurjal '06 finished two places behind Washburn.
While Providence College claimed spots one through three in the 5,000-meter run, Chris Burke '07 finished with a personal best time of 14:50.56, good for fourth in the race. Burke was followed by Herald Photo Editor Nick Neely '07, who took fifth for the Bears.
Bruno came back to take first and second place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, behind a victory by Mike Piche '05 and a second-place finish by Nick Hamel '07.
In the field events, the Bears really took advantage of their home track. Jake Golenor '06 double-dipped in the victory bowl in both the shot put and discus throw. In the shot, Golenor threw for 52-6, while Dave Glazier '06 took second. In the discus, Golenor led Brown to sweep the top three spots, along with Kent Walls '06 and Glazier, who finished second and third, respectively.
Golenor, who tore his pectoralis muscle, is hoping a week and a half of rest will bring him back to full strength. No matter what, he said he will compete at the Ivy League Championships.
"I'm definitely throwing at Heps," he said.
Also throwing for victory this weekend was Paul Rosiak '07, who threw the javelin 200-1.
Co-captain Tony Hatala '04 did some damage in the pole vault, taking the field after clearing a height of 15-1. Though three other competitors cleared this height, Hatala took the victory since, of the three, he had the fewest misses.
With the Ivy League Championship coming up May 8, team members said they are preparing to peak that weekend. Brown will host Heps this year, which for seniors will be the last home meet of their careers.
"I'm excited for my last meet at Brown," Hatala said. "I've been doing this sport for so long and I have one last chance to improve my personal best, to feel the exhilaration of clearing a bar, and to do it with my team, my family, here on our home track at the biggest meet of the year. I don't think it gets any better than that."
