MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The Williams College men's track & field team shook off the rust on Friday and Saturday, competing at the Middlebury Winter Classic and turning in a number of strong performances.
The multis took place on Friday, with Joseph Kouame-Waldman finishing third overall after a steady performance that included taking second place in the event's 1000m.
The first Ephs to make their mark on the track on Saturday came in the mile, where there was plenty of purple at the front of the pack, with Keiyu Mamiya winning the event in 4:19.06, followed by TJ Zwall just .08 behind, and with Luke Zanuck finishing 5th at 4:21.09. In the next event, the 600m, Leo Bachulis earned 2nd place (1:24.78) and Bryce Cooper was shortly behind in 4th (1:27.33).
In a deep field in the 60m sprint final, Yanni Kakouris earned 4th (7.14), just ahead of teammate Deesh Khamitkar in 5th (7.17), while teammate Ulysses Junker did not run in the final after posting a 6.97 in the prelim. The distance crew then continued their strong performances in the 1000m, where Zachary Liu-Walter won the event in 2:32.44 and Charles Dybala finished 2nd in 2:34.00. Continuing in the sprints, Bryce Cooper (2nd, 22.98) and Yanni Kakouris (4th, 23.22) did well in the 200m, and more Ephs saw success in the 3000m, with Eli Welch winning the event in 8:40.24 and Nikhil DeNatale finishing just behind in 2nd in 8:40.87. Williams put two teams in the 4x800 to close the day, and finished first and second.
In the jumps, Ulysses Junker won the long jump in his home state with a mark of 7.06m, with Devesh Khamikar finishing fourth in the triple jump at 12.98m, and Vincent VanMaaren won the pole vault with a mark of 4.80m. Gabe Levin was strong in the weight throw, finishing 4th with 13.15m.
No team scores were awarded at the meet, and the Ephs will look to continue building into shape in two weeks when the team travels to Boston to compete in a pair of events: the BU Terrier and the Harvard Invitational, both taking place January 30 and 31.
