April 2, 2005
Columbia's track and field team won six events at the Jim Thorpe Invitational hosted by Penn State University. The Lions men's and women's teams both took three titles as they performed well in the second outdoor meet of the season.
The men's team was very successful as they won three events and took second in two others. Sophomore Erison Hurtault (Aberdeen, N.J.) led the way again by winning the men's 400m with the second fastest time in school history. The Ivy League champion's 47.63 earned him top honors by .6 seconds. Sophomore Anthony Marquez placed fifth in the event, an impressive showing for his first outdoor race of the season.
As usual, the Lions were strong in the distance events as well. Gerry Groothuis took second place in the 800m with a 1:54.84 in difficult conditions. More impressive is that Groothuis won the men's 1500m as well. The senior teamed with Jon Marcus to give the Lions a top-two sweep of the 1500. Groothuis ran a 3:54.41 while Marcus finished at 3:56.18.
Steve Vilt won the men's 3000m by nearly two seconds for the Lions third title of the day. Vilt finished at 8:39.13 to earn his first collegiate title. First-year Zach Richard took sixth place in the event to open his outdoor season well.
Patrick Horst placed second in the triple jump with a best of 13.87m.
One of the most impressive aspects of the Lions men's team is the incredible depth of talent that they have, especially in the middle distance events. Despite difficult conditions, the Lions had a number of student-athletes compete in both the 800m and 1500m races. In the 800m the Lions took fifth through tenth place out of 32 competitors as Jonah Rathbun, Justin Fiske, Kent Collins, Brian Horneck, Jon Marcus and John Hiestand all finished within 2.50 seconds of each other. In the 1500m a slightly different order (with Will Boylan-Pett running instead of John Hiestand) finished between 7th and 13th places.
The women's team won three more events despite bringing only a handful of student-athletes.
For the second straight weekend, Katy Schlitchman won the women's 400m hurdles. The sophomore cut more than a second off her winning time from the Quaker Invitational to finish at 1:02.17.
Caryn Waterson, Carmen Ballard and Hilary Bontz finished second, fourth and fifth in the 800m respectively. The same trio also dominated the 1500m as well. Bontz took the race by more than four seconds with Ballard finishing third and Waterson a close fourth.
Janice Burrell took second place in the 200m for the second straight meet.
In the 3000m, first-year Stephanie Lenihan won the race in 10:11.99. The title was the first of her Columbia career.
Sophomore Alissa Ochs matched Patrick Horst's achievement to place second in the triple jump with a best mark of 10.95m.
The Lions will be back in action at the Sam Howell Invitational next weekend in Princeton.
Click here for complete results.
Click here for complete results.
