NEW YORK — Columbia Track & Field got two Ivy League titles from the women's distance medley relay and men's 4x800m relay to go along with 13 All-Ivy League honorees at a strong final day for the Lions at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships held Sunday at The Armory.
As a team, both the men and women finished fifth overall. The women earned 61 points and the men finished with 52 points. "Overall, we are really happy with how things went this weekend and everyone exceeded our expectations across the board," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country
Daniel Ireland.
"We still have a lot of work to do, but this weekend was a great step forward for the program," added Ireland. "We are proud of the younger student athletes who had never been to or competed at the Ivy League Heps, and how they performed was impressive. We will build on the weekend and get back to work for the outdoor season."
Columbia's women's DMR squad, consisting of
Phoebe Anderson,
Kimmi Woods,
Seneca Willen and
Nikki Vanasse, ran a strong race to take the title, Columbia's first of the weekend. They were joined by
Juan Zarate-Sanchez,
Solomon Fountain,
Justin O'Toole and
Michael Danzi, who made up Columbia's men's 4x800m relay squad that also ran a solid race to bring home the title in one of Columbia's historically strong events.
The eight title winning Lions earned first team All-Ivy League honors, and they were joined by
Sofia Camacho (16:20.16) and the women's 4x400m relay squad (
Alexis Knight,
Amara Onyeukwu,
Elena Wilson,
Sydney Goldson) who all finished second to earn second team All-Ivy honors. Danzi made it 13 All-Ivy winners with a second-place finish of his own in the one mile run.
HOW IT HAPPENED (WOMEN): The DMR was a complete team win for the Lions, and the final leg, run by Vanasse would be the finishing touch needed for the great race. Holding off a charging Judy Pendergast from Harvard for the entire leg, but nobody could catch Vanasse and when she crossed the line, Columbia had clocked a winning time of 11:20.20.
"We knew that we had a pair of young women running the final two legs and that Harvard would be tough competition in the DMR," said Ireland. "But we told the women, hey let's just go out there and get it.
"From the start Anderson ran a great first leg and Vanasse was able to bring it home. It was great to see that performance from them."
Camacho clocked a time of 16:20.16 to finish second in the 5,000m. Her time was impressive given that the third-place finisher from Princeton (Madeleine Burns) finished a whooping seven seconds behind the Lion runner as Camacho ran the final stretches of the race nearly by herself on her way to All-Ivy League honors.
Columbia's 4x400m relay squad ran a great race, finishing with a time of 3:44.04. The final leg, run by Goldson, was nearly fast enough to catch Harvard's winning squad, finishing less than a second behind the Crimson runner.
In the field, Columbia got podium finishes from
Kali Hatcher (triple jump) and
Anna Jordahl-Henry (high jump). Hatcher finished third with a mark of 40-05.50/12.33m and Jordahl-Henry cleared a fourth-place height of 5-08.25/1.71m.
HOW IT HAPPENED (MEN): Finishing a second ahead of Cornell's squad, Columbia's 4x800m relay squad finished their first-place race in 7:30.33, with Danzi bringing it home. But it was the second leg that got Columbia back into the mix, Fountain ran a 1:51.935 800m leg to set up the final two Lions with a chance to finish the deed, and that leg was all the eventual Ivy League Champions would need.
"The men's 4x8 men's has been one of our stronger indoor events in my time here," said Ireland. "The guys know there is pressure from the previous teams that have won and it was exciting to see them go out and rise to the occasion and bring it home."
Before helping the Lions take the 4x800m relay title, Danzi got his own All-Ivy honors with a second-place time of 4:03.64 in the one mile. Danzi finished the race strong, nearly catching the winner, Sam Ellis (Princeton), finishing less than half a second behind the first-place finisher.
In the 5,000-meter run, the Lions got a pair of record breaking runs from
David Vorbach and
Tyler Berg. Both Lion runners broke Vorbach's school record (13:55.02), which he set at the start of the month, finishing third and fourth respectively with times of 13:47.05 and 13:49.27. Vorbach and Berg and now one and two in the Columbia record books for the indoor 5,000m.
Columbia got a podium finish in the field from
Patrick Passalacqua, who in his first Ivy League Indoor Heps Championships, finished fourth in the shot put. Passalacqua tossed personal best mark of 56-03.75/17.16m, to put himself on the podium.
COLUMBIA RESULTS
Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships (Day Two)
New York, N.Y. (The Armory)
WOMEN
Track Results
400m – (1. Brooke Overholt, Cornell, 54.70); 4.
Amara Onyeukwu, 55.42; 8.
Alexis Knight, 56.38
500m – (1. Victoria Boosong, 1:12.57); 3.
Sydney Goldson, 1:13.44
1,000m – (1. Caroline Timm, Princeton, 2:47.83); 8.
Delaney Sanacore, 3:19.06
5,000m – (1. Maeve Stiles, Penn, 16:13.48); 2.
Sofia Camacho, 16:20.16
4x400m Relay – (1. Ndip-Agbor, Samuel, Martin, Bossong, Harvard, 3:43.52); 2. "A" Knight, Onyeukwu,
Elena Wilson, Goldson, 3:44.04
4x800m Relay – (1. "A" Rodriguez, Yared, Scatchard, Hock, Princeton, 8:49.48); 6. "A"
Emily Virtue,
Alex Rodman,
Mary Caroline Heinen,
Angela Saidman, 9:07.38
DMR – 1. "A"
Phoebe Anderson,
Kimmi Woods,
Seneca Willen,
Nikki Vanasse, 11:20.20
Field Results
TJ – (1. Tia Rozario, Princeton, 41-01.75/12.16m); 3.
Kali Hatcher, 40-05.50/12.33m; 10.
Tiffany Bautista, 38-06.25/11.74m
HJ – (1. Marguerite Lorenzo, Cornell, 5-10.75/1.80m); 4.
Anna Jordahl-Henry, 5-07.25/1.71m; 13.
Julia Jordahl-Henry, 5-03.00/1.60m; 17. Bautista, 5-03.00/1.60m
SP – (1. Siniru Iheoma, Princeton, 49-09.75/15.18m); 8.
McKinlee Morris, 45-05.00/13.84m
MEN
60m – (1. Trenton Charles, Yale, 6.68); 8.
Chris Balthazar, 6.88
200m – (1. Ibrahim Ayorinde, Princeton, 21.02); 5. Balthazar, 21.52; 6.
Jahi Hernandez, 21.66
500m – (1. Juma Sei, Yale, 1:02.67); 4.
Devon Davey, 1:02.77
800m – (1. Sam Ellis, Princeton, 1:50.20); 4.
Juan Zarate-Sanchez, 1:52.27; 7.
Nixon McKenzie, 1:54.23; 8.
Brandon Hicks, 1:54.50
1,000m – (1. Harrison Witt, Princeton, 2:24.41); 4.
Justin O'Toole, 2:25.51
One Mile – (1. Ellis, Princeton, 4:03.42); 2.
Michael Danzi, 4:03.64
5,000m – (1. Acer Iverson, Harvard, 13:42.88); 3.
David Vorbach, 13:47.05; 4.
Tyler Berg, 13:49.27
4x400m Relay – (1. "A" Shirley, Lapit, Murcko, Ward, 3:09.75); 6. "A" Hernandez,
Ian Smith, Davey,
Daniel Addison, 3:19.37
4x800m Relay – 1. "A" Zarate-Sanchez,
Solomon Fountain, O'Toole, Danzi, 7:30.33
DMR – (1. "A" Weprin, Epstein, Hinz, Daley, Dartmouth, 9:53.88); 8. "A"
Ryan Borden, Hicks, McKenzie,
Evan Manley, 10:00.22
Field Results
HJ – (1. John McNeil, Brown, 6-11.00/2.11m); 10.
Nate Gramentine, 6-04.25/1.94m
SP – (1. Christopher Licata, Princeton, 63-01.25/19.23m); 4.
Patrick Passalacqua, 56-03.75/17.16m; 8.
Yoosang Kim, 53-09.00/16.38m;
Toby Tan, FOUL
Heptathlon Results (Day Two)
PV – (1. Andrei Iosivas, Princeton, 16-00.75/4.90m); 10.
Luke Ciarelli, 10-02.00/3.10m
60mH – (1. Iosivas, Princeton, 8.32); 8. Ciarelli, 9.09
1,000m – (1. Jonathan Pelusi, Brown, 2:35.64); 10. Ciarelli, 3:07.33
Final – (1. Iosivas, Princeton, 6,036); 10. Ciarelli, 4,259
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