Track & Field Travels to Boston, Princeton This Weekend
5/12/2016 11:19:00 AM | Track and Field
NEW YORK – A week after the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, the Columbia track & field teams will be back at it, competing at the IC4A/ECAC Championships, and the New Balance Battle Road Twilight Series.
Battle Road Twilight Meet – Boston, Mass.
A total of eight athletes will head to Boston for the New Balance Twilight Meet, hoping to clock low enough times to advance to the NCAA Regional Championships.
The men's 1500m run will feature Robert Napolitano, Benjamin Ritz and Spencer Haik. Among the trio, Napolitano has the lowest time this season at 3:45.33, while the junior also earned All-Ivy League honors with a second place finish in the event at the conference championship meet last weekend.
Haik and Ritz were not far behind Napolitano in the tightly contested race at Heps, taking eighth and 10th, respectively. Haik has run 3:49.38 this season, while Ritz owns a season best of 3:46.65.
Benjamin's brother, Sam Ritz, will be among the three rookies to try out the 800m run in Boston, as Josiah Langstaff and Alek Sauer have also impressed during their first season with the Lions. Running with Napolitano at the Penn Relays, Ritz, Langstaff and Sauer set a school record in the 4x800m relay, going 7:20.41 (1:50.1 average). Sauer has the best time by a Columbia half-miler this season at 1:49.15, while Ritz has gone 1:50.43 and Langstaff posted a 1:50.72.
The top two female 800m runners in the Ivy League will also look for a regional qualifying times in Boston, as Brittney Wade and Sarah Hardie run for season bests.
At last weekend's Heps, Wade was part of two championship runs at that distance, winning the 800m run in 2:10.23, and teaming up with Hardie in the 4x800m relay for the win. Hardie was the second place finisher in the Ivy League open 800m run, and the two combined with Libby Kokes and Olivia Sadler for a school record in the relay at Penn Relays, going 8:34.23.
Wade's career best in the half mile is 2:08.67, while Hardie posted a 2:07.43 in the prelims last time out.
IC4A/ECAC Championships – Princeton, N.J.
The IC4A/ECAC meet gives Columbia one last chance to impress during the outdoor season, as a large contingent of the men's and women's teams will head back to Princeton to compete.
The men have two entries in both the 800m run and 1500m run, as Taylor Click and Jonathan Sowah will run two laps, and Johain Ounadjela and Marc Violone will run just shy of a mile.
In the men's 5K run, a total of seven Lions are signed up, including All-Ivy Leaguer Brian Zabilski. The first-year avoided a collision on the second to last lap that knocked two runners out of the race at the Ivy League Championships, and then capitalized. A strong kick gave Zabilski a second place finish, a little less than four seconds off the pace of his season best 14:14.69.
Senior Corey Hammond looks for redemption after a tough break in the prelims at the Ivy League Championships in the 400m hurdles. With a career best of 52.84, Hammond has a chance at the school record in the event, as he will chase Mike Strange's Columbia-best 52.43 from 1995.
Robert O'Brien will be another athlete to watch this weekend, as the rookie broke the school record in the pole vault last weekend at 5.00m.
The women's team has eight entries for the Princeton meet on Friday through Sunday.
Senior Ashley Cunningham will hope to go out with a fast 200m run time, and is peaking at the right time with a season best 24.36 during the Ivy League Championships.
The 400m run will feature two Columbia women in Akua Obeng-Akrofi and Jaycee Parker. Obeng-Akrofi has the teams best time in the event this season at 54.20 when she took third at Heps last weekend, but Parker was right behind her teammate in 54.31 for fourth.
Other competitors include Devon Towell in the 800m run, Iris Chijioke in the 100m hurdles, Erin Melly and Leila Mantilla in the 3K Steeplechase, and Adefunke Sonaike in the triple jump.
Players Mentioned
