While ideal weather set the stage for a day of intense competition, it was the Bears' ability to capitalize on it that led to a perfect day for the men's track team at the Brown Springtime Invitational on Saturday. Tallying 167.50 points, Brown easily outperformed the nine other competing schools, including Ivy rivals Yale and Harvard. The runner-up Bulldogs garnered 127 points, followed by the Crimson with 83.50.
The men's distance team took the top four spots en route to scoring 29 points in the 5,000-meter race. Co-captain Patrick Tarpy '05 led the charge, crossing the line in a personal best 14:08.07.
"Pat is obviously in phenomenal shape right now," said Distance Coach John Gregorek. "After indoors, it took him a bit to get rolling again, but he is extremely fit, and I think he can run quite a bit faster."
While Tarpy focused more on the middle distance events in previous seasons, the switch to longer events may be more natural than most would assume.
"He's had some good seasons in the 1,500(-meter run), but he's had great seasons in cross country," Gregorek said. "Combine that strength with his speed, and the 5k makes perfect sense."
Tushar Gurjal '06 helped the squad by pacing the leaders through the mile mark to tire them out, a role known as being the "rabbit," putting Tarpy on pace for the NCAA Regionals qualifying time.
"Tushar's come to a new level ... with his hard work," Gregorek said. "It's a sacrifice to come back and help your teammates out, but I think it says a lot about his attitude towards the team."
Although the race marked Tarpy's season debut in the event, his time places him fifth all-time for Brown and positions him second in the Ivy League.
Owen Washburn '06 finished second in the race, hitting the IC4A qualifying time with a 14:17.99 effort, a personal best by 11 seconds. Washburn's time moves him to seventh on Brown's all-time list. Chris Burke '07 and Pat Clark '07 took third and fourth, respectively.
The inaugural Norm Taber ('13) Mile was contested at the meet in honor of the former Brown captain who once held the world record in the mile. While a handful of Bears had hopes of winning and keeping the award at home, Pat Dantzer of Yale came away victorious, clocking 4:10.08.
Brown did, however, bring home another victory and NCAA Regional qualifying mark when Ray Bobrownicki '06 won the high jump by over four inches, clearing 6 feet, 10 3/4 inches.
"It's nice to have qualifying for Regionals out of the way," Bobrownicki said. "My ankle has been bothering me quite a bit ... but I felt better today than I did the week before."
The jumps squad earned 11 more points with the pole vault duo of Grant Bowen '07 and Brian Zubradt '08 clearing 15-1 and 14-7 1/4, respectively. Deshaun Mars '08 took runner-up honors in the long jump with a 21-1 1/2 mark.
In the discus, Brown captured second and third places as Kent Walls '06 hit 161-7 and Kai Brown '08 marked 149-4.
Back on the track, rookie Will Bernitsky '08 continued his streak of personal bests in the 400-meter hurdles. Clocking 55.25 seconds, he took eight points for the Bears with his second-place finish. In the shorter, 110-meter high hurdles, another first-year, Jamil McClintock '08, took the runner-up slot, crossing the finish line in a personal best 14.62.
Luke Renick '08 earned 12 points with third-place finishes in both the short sprints. He clocked 11.06 in the 100-meter and 22.09 in the 200-meter dashes.
Dallas Dissmore '06 competed in both the open 400-meter and 4x400 relay, taking second in the individual race in 49.11 and anchoring the relay to a win. The team posted a time of 3:16.38, qualifying for the IC4As and beating the runner-up Bulldogs by over two seconds. Though it was a close competition throughout the duration of the relay, Dissmore dominated the field, as he brought the baton across the line first in front of the enthusiastic Brown fans. As the last race of the day, the exciting performance capped a day of success for the victorious Bears.
The men will face New England competition again on Saturday when they return to the University of Connecticut with the intention of capitalizing upon the momentum from this weekend's win.
"I think that we performed really well as a team," Gregorek said. "It was a solid day. It points to a really good future for the men."
