The Emory men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted the Emory Crossplex invitational in Birmingham, Ala. last weekend, in which both teams were able to capture first place in a field of around 20.
“Across the board, performances were strong,” Emory Head Coach John Curtin said. “I don’t think we had any surprises. People showed up and competed hard which lead to some very impressive performances”.
Senior Julie Williamson led the way for the women’s squad, setting a new school record with her first place time of 2:13.98 in the 800m run. More impressive, she did so with a time modified to account for potential speed added by the banked turns at the Crossplex, Curtin said. He praised Williamson’s performance, but expects even more from her as the season progresses.
“I’m thrilled for Julie, to see a kid come as far as she has is fantastic,” Curtin said. “There’s more there, she’s going to run faster.”
Curtin elaborated the high level of Williamson’s performances this season, and how he expects her to continue on the same path.
“If Julie can run another second faster, she will be safely in the indoor national championship field and likely to earn All-American honors. I know that’s her ultimate goal,” Curtin continued.
Other notable performances for the women’s team included junior Sophie Cemaj’s victory in the 5,000m run with a time of 18:41.83, as well as the second and fourth place finishes of Erica Goldman (58.50) and Ariana Newhouse (1:00.75) in the 400m dash. Freshman Dilys Osei placed sixth in the 60m hurdles, and ran the fastest split for the first-place 4x400 relay team (4:01.08) of freshman Hayler Moyer, junior Elizabeth Magno, and freshman Dani Bland. Bland also finished seventh in the 200m dash with a time of 25.99.
The Men’s team had its share of strong performances as well, especially sophomore Max Brown, who on the 800m run (1:55.17) and took second in the 1-mile run (4:18.06).
“Max really stepped into the foreground at this meet,” Curtin said of Brown.
Sophomore Benjamin Rogin placed third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.56, and fellow sophomore Daniel Pietsch’s time of 49.02 was the third fastest in the 400m dash. The 4x400 relay team of Pietsch, senior Spencer Koh, senior Adam Rabushka and junior Ian McIsaac placed third with a time of 3:21.74.
The Eagles, on both the men’s and women’s sides, also turned in many strong performances in the field events. For the men, senior Max Hoberman’s second-place, 14.36m triple jump broke the meet record for the event, and is the sixth furthest in Emory history. Fellow seniors Jacob Siegel and Spencer Koh performed well in field events; Siegel’s shot-put of 13.39m took third place, and Koh’s 4.25m pole vault earned him second place. For the women, sophomore Kora Dreffs placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 10.73m, and Senior Alexandra Aiello had a long jump of 5.00m that earned ninth place.
The Eagles will return to competition Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29 and 30, at the Bob Pollack Meet hosted at Clemson University (S.C.). Curtin expects the short break between meets to be a challenge for the team.
“We have a short week, as there is not much time to recover between Sunday and Friday,” Curtin said. “We have short recovery and preparation time this week, which presents a challenge”.
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