Ithaca, MIT Lead After Day One at ECAC DIII Outdoor Track & Field Championships
RESULTS | TEAM SCORES
WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) continued its Spring championships on Wednesday, as the 2016 Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships kicked off at Westfield State University.
With Day One complete, Ithaca College holds the lead in the women’s team competition with 32.5 points, with SUNY Oneonta (20) and Moravian College (15) sitting in second and third, respectively. On the men’s side, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (31) holds a slim edge over Bates College (29), while Tufts University sits in third place with 21 points.
A strong showing by a trio of Ithaca sophomores helped the Bombers build their lead, starting with the pole vault. Fresh off a second-place performance at the ECAC Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championship, sophomore Katherine Pitman soared to a gold medal in a jump-off over Stockton University’s Chelsea Vaughn.
Fellow sophomore Ryan Grace then followed with a second-place showing in the women’s triple jump. Grace posted a mark of 11.56 meters to finish behind Utica College’s Sarah Wiatr, who took gold with a leap of 12.15m.
Taryn Cordani (17:19.51) then finished second in the women’s 5,000-meter run, crossing the line behind Brandeis University freshman Emily Bryson (17:16.24).
MIT also had a solid performance in the field events on Day One, as seniors Benjamin Schreck and David Motley recorded third-place finishes in the pole vault and triple jump, respectively. Schreck’s bronze showing of 4.76 meters came behind Luke Patten of Penn State University – Behrend (4.97m), while Motley’s leap of 14.45m saw him place behind Delaware Valley University’s Ta’riq Thomas (14.63m) and Connor Harris (14.46m) from the University of Southern Maine.
The Engineers then picked up maximum points in the 4x400-meter relay, recording a team time of 3:13.32 to finish ahead of Rowan University (3:14.53) and Oneonta (3:14.70)
Senior Benjamin Xie capped MIT’s day with a silver medal in the men’s 5,000-meter run, posting a time of 14:38.07 to take second place after Mohamed Hussein (14:30.04) earned the gold for Amherst College.
Earlier in the day, the championships opened with the first set of events in the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon.
With 3,318 points through five events of the decathlon, Rowan’s Sam Maniglia holds a slim advantage over Eric Denny (3,294) of Plattsburgh State, boosted by a first-place performance in the decathlon’s100-meter dash and three other top-five showings.
Freshman Reilly Wagner from Misericordia University sits atop the heptathlon scoreboard with 2,984 points after taking top spot in the high jump and 200-meter dash, and finishing second in the 100-meter hurdles. Colby College’s Jenna Athanasopoulos ended Day One in second place in the heptathlon with 2,790 points.
The 2016 ECAC DIII Outdoor Track & Field Championships will conclude on Thursday at Westfield State, beginning with the resumption of the decathlon and heptathlon at 10 a.m.