The Emory men’s and women’s track team continued its outdoor season at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference Championships last weekend hosted by Washington University in St. Louis (Mo).
After two days of high-level competition, the women’s team took second place with 173 points, and the men’s team finished fourth with 124.5 points. Head Coach John Curtin told the Wheel about the level of competition at the event.
“We have to give Washington credit, normally [scoring] over 170 points wins [a] meet. They’re loaded, and we have give them credit. They outscored us,” Curtin said.
Emory took home seven individual conference titles, and many athletes earned All-UAA honors. While neither the men’s or women’s team ended the meet with the desired result, Curtin expressed the pride he feels in the team’s performance.
“Overall, I have been pleased with this group all year,” Curtin said. “They’re all tough competitors, and every single kid left it all out there. You can’t fault a single one.”
The women’s team put up a number of strong performances in its second place showing, starting on Saturday with senior Alex Aiello, who won the long jump with a distance of 5.31m. The 4x800m relay team of freshmen Kayla O’Shea and Clare Ubersax, sophomore Gabrielle Stravach and junior Alexa Young finished in second place with a time of 9:51.56.
On Sunday, the Eagles added two event wins from a pair of freshman runners: Dani Bland won the 100m dash with a time of 12.21, and Arianna Newhouse won the 400m dash at 55.71, setting a new school and conference record in the process. Newhouse barely edged out sophomore Erica Goldman, who also broke school and conference records with her 400m time of 55.81. Freshman Dilys Osei placed second in the 100m hurdles, and senior K.J. Sayyid and sophomore Julia Leventhal earned a pair of third place finishes in the 200m and 100m events, respectively. Curtin was also very impressed with the performance of senior Julie Williamson, who finished third in the 800m run despite illness.
Senior duo Jacob Siegel and Lukas Mees paced the men’s team on the meet’s first day with a pair of victories. Siegel won the discus for the third consecutive year, with a throw of 44.24m. Mees also defended a conference title when he won the 3000m steeplechase for the second year in a row with a season-best time of 9:17.90. Junior Kyle Veator earned All-UAA honors on Saturday for his third place finish in the triple jump.
On Sunday, the men’s team once again saw two athletes earn individual conference titles. Sophomore Benjamin Rogin’s time of 15.20 earned first place in the 110m hurdles. Rogin told the Wheel about his season and credited a lot of his win to one of his coaches, Aaron Campbell.
“Up until the outdoor UAA Championship, I was having a very tough season,” Rogin said. “I would have parts of my race go right, but then other parts would fall off. I really have to give my success at the hurdles at the meet to my coach, Aaron Campbell. He really kept me motivated through the whole season, and it was his training that had me peak at the right time.”
Sophomore Daniel Pietsch won the 400m dash for the second year in a row with a time of 47.50, in addition to taking second in the 200m event and partaking in the 4x100m relay team. The second-place relay team’s other members were Veator, senior Spencer Koh and sophomore Max Helfman. The 4x400m relay team finished third and included Pietsch, Veator, Koh and junior Ian McIsaac. Sophomores Charlie Hu and Max Brown earned third place finishes in the triple jump and 1500m run, respectively. Siegel continued his strong performances in the throwing events from Saturday; his second place throw of 14.82 in the shot put is the new school record.
The Eagles will now take a break for finals, before the final tune-ups for the national meet, which will take place May 26, 27 and 28. To qualify for the meet, athletes will travel to events that have strong competition for their specific event. Curtin wants the teams to be at their best before nationals.
“Now we will go find the meet with best competition in each event and get our performances as sharp as possible before nationals,” Curtin said.
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