The Bears were hosts for the first time in the 2008 outdoor track and field season on Saturday at the Brown Invitational. The entire team made good use of its home- field advantage, with the women emerging victorious overall with 167.50 points and the men coming in second just behind Dartmouth. Seven men and seven women each earned individual first-place finishes, while the women's relay wins propelled them to victory.
Once again, the men excelled in running events, with four athletes winning titles in their races. These included Kevin Cervantes '10 with a time of 48.91 seconds in the 400-meter dash and Nick Sarro '08, who continued his winning streak in the one-mile race with a time of 4:16.87 minutes.
Sarro has now won all three outdoor one-mile races in the spring season. Ryan Graddy '08 and Matt Jasmin '09 also performed excellently, winning the 3,000-meter run and the 110-meter hurdles, respectively.
"The men are competing very well right now. It is great to see them stepping up to the plate," Head Coach Craig Lake wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "It was exciting to see Kevin Cervantes run a personal best to win the 400-meters and Matt Jasmin looks better and better each week in the hurdles."
In the field, Ikenna Achilihu '08 was also a victor, winning the triple jump with a distance of 49-03.75 feet. Reggie Cole '10 followed not far behind in third place.
The throwers were just as successful led by Bryan Powlen '10. He out-threw the competition in both the shot put and the discus with throws of 53-03.75 feet and 160.08 feet, respectively. Eric Wood '09 earned two solid second place finishes in the shot put and the hammer throw, and Sam Ulracher '09 grabbed third in the javelin.
The women took full advantage of rare good weather to trample the opposition with nine overall wins. The winners of the track events included Nicole Burns '09 who won the 200-meter dash in 24.56 seconds. Jenna Ridgway '10 received first for her 4:45.50-minute time in the one-mile race and Akilah King '08 won with an impressive time of 12.16 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
The best result, however, came from freshman Samantha Adelberg '11, who won the 800-meter race with a time of 2:09.25 minutes.
Both King and Lake commended Adelberg's performance afterward.
"This is the sixth-fastest time in school history - which is fantastic for a first-year," Lake said. "She has a ton of potential."
Other younger members of the team again proved their worth in the field events, as Grace Watson '11 won the high jump with a height of 5-05.00 feet and fellow freshman Brynn Smith '11 won the shot put with a throw of 44-04.75 feet.
The sophomores followed suit as Danielle Grunloh '10 earned her third consecutive discus title with a throw of 145-06 feet and Shannon Stone '10 came in third in the triple jump with a distance of 35-08.00 feet.
Tiffany Chang '08 and Rachel Biblo '11 also delivered solid performances in the field events with Chang earning second in the pole vault and Biblo coming in third in the long jump.
"Overall, the team took advantage of the great weather and Ivy League competition," King said.
"Hopefully we can carry this momentum into the weeks ahead. The outdoor season is very short, so it's important to continue to work hard at practice and improve every weekend."
With the Ivy League Championships less than four weeks away, the team hopes to use this weekend's success as a springboard for the rest of the season.
This weekend, the team will have split squads running at the Husky Spring Invite and the UConn Select Invitational, both at UConn.
