Complete Results
Williamstown, MA – On a partly cloudy, beautiful 68-degree day in the Berkshires, the Williams men's track and field team was all together for competition for the first time this season. They hosted the annual Farley Meet in honor of coach Dick Farley, one of the most decorated coaches in Williams sports history. The dual meet against MIT also serves as the weekend many alumni come back and cheer on their former teammates.
After trading blows with MIT, which entered ranked 6thnationally, all afternoon, the 22nd ranked Ephs surged ahead to win 100–94 behind two stellar relay performances at the meet's conclusion.
The meet kicked off at 9am in an unscored 10000m. Four Ephs made up the entire field, and it was a good team effort of guys trading the lead every 800m for the first 6k. After the field spaced as the race concluded, Zach Dulabon '18 was the winner in a personal best 32:30.4. His time qualifies him for Division III New Englands and All New Englands. Next through the line were Ryan Cox '20 and Nigel Bates '17, who also qualified for Division III New Englands in 32:36.8 and 33:02.8, respectively. Eli Cytrynbaum finished the race in 34:53.2.
Competition resumed a few hours later in the field events. The trio of James Heinl '19 (47.23m, SB), Chris Lyons '17 (45.64m, PB), and Liam Pembroke '18 (40.46m, PB) went 2-3-4 in the hammer throw in a display of great teamwork and cheering. Magnus Herweyer '20, Julian Smedley '19, and Mykel Miller '20 followed suit in season bests of their own of 38.15m, 37.62m, and 35.10m. Heinl doubled back to throw the javelin and win the event in a season best 52.70m (DIII New Englands) on his final throw. Ian Mook '18 took second with a 46.39m throw.
Ian Outhwaite '17 kicked off the jumping events by going perfect from 1.78m through 1.98m in the high jump. He won the event with that season best 1.98m jump, with his perfect record through the mark serving as a tiebreaker. Ian Kagame '19 narrowly missed setting a season best and finished in 1.83m, good enough for 4th.
The running events resumed at 1:15pm with the 3000m steeplechase. Jacob Kahrs '19 and Zeke Cohen '17 were together for most of the race, as were Kenneth Marshall '20 and Will McGovern '20. Kahrs kept his composure through a nail-biter finish and ran a personal best 9:40.92, good enough to make All New Englands. Cohen fed off his teammate's energy and was particularly smooth going over the water jump; he finished in a season best 9:46.93. Marshall and McGovern both made the Division III New Englands standard for the first time this season, coming through the line in 9:49.47 and 9:58.64.
The 4x100m relay was a tough event this afternoon, with multiple Ephs dealing with injuries. The team of Dysron Marshall '20, Jeremy Thaller '19, Amyhr Barber '20, and Connor Harris '18 still managed to put together a respectable 44.29 second performance, with good handoffs that will be key later in the season.
David Folsom '17 and Peter Kirgis '20 put on a show in the 1500m. The duo went out in the front of the field and looked smooth throughout. Both men were overtaken for the lead on the final lap, but Folsom stormed back to earn the win and an All New Englands qualification (3:53.08) while Kirgis held off another MIT runner for a solid 3:57.37 finish. Lucas Estrada '19 was the next Eph finisher, coming through the line in a season best 4:00.84 (DIII New Englands). Just off the DIII New Englands standard was the first-year duo of Isaac Goodman (4:04.43) and Benjamin Hearon (4:04.60). Walker Knauss '19 completed the Ephs' efforts in 4:23.23.
Austin Thomas '20 bounced back in the 110m hurdles this week, shaving over 1.5 seconds off his season opener and finishing in a close battle for the win in 17.36 seconds (2nd). Not long after, the Ephs entered three in the open 400m. They were led by Elliot Fong '19, who took 3rd and narrowly missed his season best in 50.89 seconds. Not far behind was teammate Dysron Marshall '20, who took 4th in a personal best 51.08 seconds (DIII New Englands). Robert Delfeld rounded out the efforts in the 400m, finishing in 53.45 seconds.
Amyhr Barber '20 was the lone runner for the Ephs in two-man 100m. Barber placed 2nd in a personal best 11.51 seconds. He also competed in the long jump, taking 4th in another personal best performance (6.26m). Joining him were teammates Tobias Mullers '18 and Connor Harris '18; Muellers won the event in a personal best 6.86m, and Harris was 2nd with a 6.69m mark.
The throwers continued to score key points, this time in the shot put. Magnus Herweyer led the way again this week, winning the event with a 16.21m throw. He was joined in scoring by Chris Lyons '17 and Liam Pembroke '18, who finished 3rd and 4th respectively with marks of 13.74m and 13.37m. The effort was rounded out by Mykel Miller '20 (11.21m, PB), Julian Smedley '19 (10.64m, PB), and Austin Thomas '20 (10.11m, PB). Herweyer also scored in the discus throw (2nd) behind a solid showing of 44.41m. He led a unit of Nikolai Christopherson '19 (5th, 33.80m, PB), Thomas (6th, 26.91m, PB), and Smedley (7th, 24.20m).
It was the Williams show in the 800m, with Ephs taking the first 5 places. The race went out at a blistering pace behind Steve Yannacone '17. It was Tristan Colaizzi '20 who ended up breaking away from the pack of Ephs at the finish line, winning the race in the fastest time by any Eph this season (1:53.25, DIII New Englands & All New Englands). Kevin LaFleche '20 used a powerful finishing kick to edge out fellow Eph Alex Cowen '18, 1:54.93 to 1:55.25 (both DIII New Englands qualifiers and season bests). Yannacone was 4th (1:56.04, SB, DIII New Englands), and first-year Nick Gannon was 5th in 1:57.24 (SB, DIII New Englands). Joining the team in giving strong efforts were first-years Jackson Ennis (2:00.62, PB) and Eugene Cho (2:03.36).
Ian Outhwaite '18 came back from his win in the high jump to score 2 more points on a huge personal best finish of 13.24m in the triple jump, good enough for 3rd. Speaking of Ians who scored points, Ian Mook '18 and Ian Kagame '19 followed up by scoring a combined 5 points in the 400m hurdles. In their season debuts in the event, Mook and Kagame took 2nd and 3rd in finishing in 58.90 and 65.82 seconds, respectively.
Like Ian Outhwaite, Tobias Muellers doubled back from a jumps win to score another 2 points. He snagged third place with a huge personal best in the 200m (22.55 seconds, DIII New Englands). Dysron Marshall also came back to run in the 200m, and pushed himself to a new personal best time of 23.58 seconds. As the 200m wrapped up, so did the pole vault. Pierceson Brown '18 was perfect through 4.55m, and finished out there to score 3 points. Muellers was 4th behind a huge outdoor personal best (4.25m, DIII New Englands), and Marshall Borrus '20 also set a personal best (3.50m).
Going into the 5k, the clouds had blocked out the sun and it was perfect distance running weather. The Ephs also trailed by 9 points. Ben Decker '18 went out in the 5000m intent on putting a dent in that number. He went out and ran much of the race by himself in the front to win it, snagging 5 points and qualifying for DIII New Englands with a 15:15.84 performance. Finishing not far behind was sophomore Mitch Morris, who worked his way up the top 4–while trading an elbow here and there–to take 2nd in a DIII qualifying time of 15:20.82. His 3 points were offset by the 3rd and 4th place finishes by MIT, but were crucial in keeping the Ephs within striking distance going into the relays. The 5k performances were rounded out by Sam Wischnewsky '20 (15:47.58) and Jenks Hehmeyer (15:50.36), who worked together for most of the race.
Going into the final 2 relays, which were scored as winner takes all 5 points, the Ephs trailed 94-90. The track and stands were full of nervous energy and excitement; the Ephs needed to win both remaining relays to take the win. First on the track was the 4x400m team, comprised of Alex Cowen, Steve Yannacone, Kevin LaFleche, and Tobias Muellers. The story of the first three legs was the same; the corresponding MIT runner would take the leg out quickly, and on the back stretch the Eph came back and kept it close. Heading into the final lap, the Ephs clung to a small lead. Muellers was fast out of the start and kept at least a two stride lead most of the way. He ran into the finish with his teammates cheering frantically, as his win kept the Ephs' chances at winning alive. The final result was 3:22.65 Williams, 3:23.18 MIT. With one relay remaining, the Ephs led 95-94.
For the meet concluding 4x800m relay, the Ephs were counting on another strong showing by some of the 800m runners who were part of the earlier event sweep, as well as winner of the 1500m David Folsom. Lucas Estrada led off the and put a sizeable gap between him and the first MIT runner. Nick Gannon and Folsom went 2nd and 3rd, and ultimately kept a comfortable lead going into the final leg. Tristan Colaizzi closed out the win, bringing the relay team in at 7:58.18. The relay team was greeted with hugs and high fives after, the final score 100 Williams to 94 MIT.
After the meet, Eph head coach Ethan Barron offered praise for his athletes, and reflected on what this kind of competition means for the team. "We did a great job competing this weekend," Barron began. "Track is a pretty simple sport. Race the guys next to you, don't overthink it. Dual meets make that so much easier to see and feel. You hear a lot of other coaches talking about 'playing 4 quarters' or 'a full 40 minutes,' and those same concepts exist in track. And it's something that we will always be striving for - the start to finish, balanced attack."
"By no means were we at full strength this weekend," Barron concluded. "We were without a few key cogs. But we enter championship season in 2 weeks so it's on us to get and keep ourselves at full strength. Honestly though, more than anything, what I love about this team is that they come to the track and work everyday to keep pushing what our 'full strength' might look like. Each week we're stronger than we were the week before."
With a tough win grinded out against MIT, the Ephs now turn their attention towards one more weekend of securing qualifying marks before competing at NESCACs the weekend after.
