By Eddie Young
Sports Editor
The College’s track and field team put together very respectable performances in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships on March 7 and 8, with the women’s team finishing fourth out of 45 teams and the men’s team finishing seventh out of 37 teams.
The women’s team had two medallers on the weekend, with seniors Eliza Bruncaj and Jessica Reilly turning their great recent run of form into bronze medals.
Bruncaj started the weekend off on a high note for the Lions, as she earned her bronze medal in the pentathlon on the first day of the competition. She was victorious in the event’s 800-meter race with a time of 2:25.59 and earned third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.17 seconds. These two events were the biggest contributors to her 3,267 points in the event. She finished behind senior Lanna Wandy of SUNY Geneseo and senior Hannah Alderfer of Susquehanna.
Reilly earned her bronze medal on the second day of the championships in the weight throw. She broke a program record she previously held in this event as she had a throw of 16.61 meters. Her previous record was 15.72 meters, so she shattered that number in this regional.
The women slightly outperformed the men as a team, but the men still earned three medallers on the weekend.
The distance medley relay team, consisting of junior Kevin Matthews, senior Tyrese Gilbert, junior Thomas Blach and junior Brandon Chen earned a silver medal, running the relay in 10:17.61.
The Lions started a bit slow in the event, as they were fifth in their heat after both the opening 1200-meter part and the 400-meter sprint. However, Blach started to bring the College back after a good showing in the 800-meter section, running that part in 1:58.14 and getting the team to third in the heat.
He passed off the rest of the race to Chen, who took over for the 1600-meter leg. Chen put together the second best time of anyone in either heat in this leg, as he ran it in 4:16.47 and got the Lions up to second place. The College finished behind a dominant SUNY Geneseo team, which ran the event in under 10 minutes.
Freshman Maxim Rychkov added yet another accolade to his dominant rookie season as a Lion, as he earned a silver medal in the 400-meter dash. He had the best time in his heat, as he ran the race in 48.73 seconds, but he ended up losing out to the eventual champion by just eight-hundredths of a second.
Junior Jayvee Dumas continued his exceptional season in the heptathlon, as he earned a bronze medal in the event that stretched across the two days of the championships. He had the best distance in the long jump, with a 6.46 meters, and was second in the 60-meter hurdles and the pole vault. He finished with 4,634 points in the event, and was behind two competitors from the University of Rochester.
This regional competition marked the end of the indoor season for the women, but the men will look ahead to the NCAA Championships on March 14 and 15 in Rochester, New York.
Rychkov will be competing in three events at the national championships. He will be joined by fifth-year Ray Schmitt in the 60-meter dash. He will then be the College’s lone athlete competing in the 200-meter dash. Lastly, he will be joined by freshman Noah Traverso, freshman Anthony Senatore and sophomore Jack Attali in the 4x400-meter relay.
Rychkov will look to help the College bring home a medal in the national championship.
