The Emory Track and Field team traveled to Johnson City, Tenn. last weekend to compete in its first meet of 2016. At the East Tennessee State University Invitational, Emory faced off against NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA opposition. That didn’t slow down the Emory athletes that were able to challenge, and even defeat, those from bigger schools.
The women’s team was led by a strong performance from senior Julie Williamson, who placed first in the seeded 800m event, as well as the unseeded mile run. Williamson’s time of 2:15.77 in the 800m race is the fastest 800m time in Division III this season, and the sixth fastest in school history. Sophomore Gabrielle Stravach placed second in the unseeded mile run, with a time of 5:23.58, about three seconds behind Williamson. Freshman Maeve Andrews won the 3000m run, and three Emory runners placed in the top 10 of the 5000m run: senior Aileen Rivell, sophomore Megan Waples and freshman Amanda Martin finished third, sixth and eighth, respectively.
For the men’s team, sophomore Max Brown’s time of 8:50.87 was good enough to take first in the 3000m run. Brown was followed closely by teammate junior Michael McBane, who placed fourth. Senior Josh Traynelis’s time of 4:36.31 placed him fourth in the unseeded mile run, and junior Brandon Cromer finished seventh in the 800m event.
Emory also performed well in field events. The women’s team was led by Jordan Small, who finished 10th in the high jump, and freshman Kora Dreffs, who finished in the top 18 in both the shot put and the weight throw. Senior Spencer Koh placed fifth in the pole vault, with a height of 4.15m, and senior Maxwell Hoberman and freshman Zachary Lembersky placed seventh and 14th in the triple jump and weight throw, respectively. Junior Kyle Veator’s long jump of 6.77m, which took 10th place, earned praise from Coach John Curtin. “It was a PR by about a foot, he had a really big meet,” he said.
Coach Curtin explained to the Wheel that there typically are difficulties accompanying the team’s first meet after a layoff.
“We do our best to give our team workouts and motivate them during the break, but there’s only so much we can do,” Curtin said. “[After long layoffs] you find out who the motivated kids are, the kids that executed their workouts didn’t miss a beat, and that separates the really good athletes from the others”.
Next weekend, on Jan. 24, the entire track and field team will participate in the Emory Crossplex Invitational in Birmingham, Ala. Curtin said that due to travel restraints, only certain members of the team are able to travel, which means home meets allow everyone an equal chance to compete.
“Our home meet in Birmingham, we look at that as the meet where we pull the whole team together,” Curtin said. “We host this meet, so we can bring the whole team. Everyone can show what they can do, which makes it a real team outing.”
On Monday, Williamson, Hoberman, and Pietsch were named UAA Athletes of the week, for their performances at the meet.
