Complete Results
Amherst, MA – On a less than ideal spring afternoon, the Williams men's track and field team had a strong, gritty showing at the Amherst Spring Fling. With many of those who traveled on the spring break trip following the meet from home, the Ephs braved the cold and the wind to put up several personal bests across the board and place 4th overall with 37 points. WPI won the meet with 148 points.
Jacob Kahrs '19 made his season debut in the steeplechase a good one, easily eclipsing the Division III New Englands standard of 10:10 in running 9:47.37 and placing 3rd. In his collegiate steeple debut, first-year Kenneth Marshall grinded his way to a 10:19.78 finish. Eli Cytrynbaum '20 rounded out the steeple performances by the Ephs and ran 10:52.57.
Over in the hammer throw, James Heinl '19 and captain Chris Lyons '17 led the way by going 1-2 and both throwing personal bests. Heinl finished with a 46.72m mark and Lyons finished with a 45.13m mark; it was Lyons' first time this season besting the All New Englands qualifying distance. Liam Pembroke '18 (39.88m, PB), Julian Smedley '19 (37.02m, PB) and Magnus Herweyer (36.49m, PB) continued to feed the hype in their string of personal bests in the hammer throw.
Jackson Ennis '20 made his outdoor debut in the 1500m, winning his heat in a closely contested battle. His time of 4:13.96 was good enough for 8th overall. Walker Knauss '19 also ran in the 1500m and finished in 4:30.50.
Kyrien Edwards '17 and Austin Thomas '19 both pushed through an awful headwind to finish in 19.24 and 19.91 seconds, respectively, in the 110m hurdles. Dysron Marshall '20 led the Ephs in the 400m against similar rough conditions. He finished 9th overall in 53.28 seconds, and was joined by the contingent of Ian Mook '18 (54.53), Justin LeAndre '18 (54.56), and Kyrien Edwards '17 (58.76). Later, Marshall doubled back to run the 200m in 23.88 seconds.
In the 800m, it was Steve Yannacone who set the tone for the Ephs. Yannacone ran in the hotly contested fast heat and beat the Division III New England standard in running 1:56.50. The first-year trio of Robert Delfeld (2:00.07), Jackson Ennis (2:01.68), and Eugene Cho (2:02.48) rounded out the performances by Williams in the event.
It was absolutely the throwers' show in the back end of the events; there were personal bests all around, kicked off by Mykel Myers' very first discus throw of 34.40m. Chris Lyons '17 and Nikolai Christoffersen '19 had a little duel that was entertaining to watch, with Lyons just edging out Christoffersen 27.47m to 27.44m. Austin Thomas '20 and Julian Smedley '19 wrapped up the discus throw with marks of 26.60m and 25.70m. Miller, Smedley, and Thomas would also go on to throw the shot put with marks of 10.94m, 10.51m, and 10.10m respectively. To conclude the throwing events, Ian Mook '18 and Christoffersen threw the javelin. Mook threw a huge personal best in 54.57m and qualified for Division III New Englands, and Christoffersen threw for 45.51m in his debut in the event.
First-year Marshall Borrus made his collegiate debut in the outdoor pole vault, and nearly matched his personal best from the previous indoor season. He cleared 3.00m, just 0.05m short of his indoor personal best.
The Ephs finished up the running events with performances in the 5000m and the 4x400m relay. Zachary Dulabon '18 ran well and finished in midst of a cluster of runners, coming through the line in 15:39.44. Nigel Bates '17 and Benjamin Hearon '20 finished right with each other in 15:53.55 and 15:54.07. Finally, the 4x400m ran a close race against Amherst and finished 2nd in 3:34.92.
When asked about his thoughts on his team's performance, Eph head coach Ethan Barron offered praise for his athletes. He pointed out that his team came and out gave "gritty performances in the face of non ideal weather–a critical step to late season races." The difficulty of the day no doubt will add to the Ephs' arsenal in mental toughness moving forward.
This same weekend, a few Ephs traveled to Princeton, NJ to compete at the Sam Howell Invitational. Despite the cold evening temperatures Friday night that dipped well below freezing, all four Ephs competed in the 10000m with tenacity. Peter Hale '17 once again led the way for his team, beautifully executing a 30:00.66 race in his first collegiate 10k. That time places him 2nd all time on the Ephs all-time list. Ben Decker '18 and Noah Williams '17 came through the line near each other in tough efforts of 31:34.38 and 31:36.08. Mitchell Morris '19 pushed through the grueling conditions to finish in 32:52.07.
With a long weekend of competition concluded, the Ephs will turn their attention to the annual Dick Farley Meet, which they will host on their home track next weekend.
