Emory's men’s and women’s track and field team travelled to Boston, Mass. this past weekend to compete at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championship at Brandeis University (Mass.). The men’s team earned second place, just behind Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) while the women finished third behind Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago.
Wrapping up the meet with 80 team points, the men racked up eight All-UAA top three finishes. The weekend was a big win for senior Kyle Veator who started off the meet by claiming first in the long jump with a personal record of 6.86 meters. Junior Shane Sullivan followed with a top finish and a new personal record in the 5000m, running 14:50.13. Both Veator and Sullivan scored third in their individual events, Veator with a time of 6.61 in the 55m dash and Sullivan crossing the line at 8:28.70 in the 3000m.
“I had been feeling good throughout the meet and working a lot in the past weeks leading up to it,” Veator said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries lately on the team and honestly Saturday didn’t really go exactly as planned for us. Still, we pushed through and did our best and were overall satisfied with the result.”
Junior Charlie Hu medaled second in the long jump, breaking his previous personal record with a mark of 6.70 meters. Hu took the top spot in the triple jump with a personal best of 13.97 meters. Junior Benjamin Rogin was bested by just 0.04 seconds in the 55m hurdles finals, racing a time of 7.77. Brandeis saw the talent of Emory freshman Aria Mohseni who qualified for the 400m dash Saturday, placing fifth in the finals with a time of 50.75 Sunday. Mohseni went on to compete in the 4x400m relay with teammates Veator, Rogin and junior Max Brown. The four rounded out the meet, coming in fifth with a time of 3:28.56.
The women had a solid run, achieving seven All-UAA finishes and 85 team points. Freshman Gabrielle Davis opened the meet with an impressive performance in the long jump Saturday. Davis placed second with a mark of 5.21 meters, the first UAA finish of the weekend for the women. Another second place went to the distance medley relay team consisting of junior Gabrielle Stravach, sophomore Clare Ubersax and freshmen Jordan Burgess and Kaitlyn Leonard, who finished with a time of 12:18.93.
“Overall we really came through for each other as a team,” Stravach said. “We knew we would have to run the race strong especially with the tough [competition]. A lot of people view track as just an individual sport but being there for each in this event was really important.”
Freshman Isabel Saridakis took a figurative and literal leap in the pole vault final, earning fourth place and a mark of 3.52 meters, besting her previous school record by 0.11 meters.
Sophomore Dani Bland was in top form Sunday, placing third in the 200m dash with a time of 25.86 and second in the 55m dash with a time of 7.16, both All-UAA finishes. Bland’s time in the 55m dash broke the previous UAA record and tied with the fastest time in school history.
Stravach placed second in the mile with a time of 4:47.04, a school record and the first sub five minute mile in school history.
“I’ve been trying to run a sub five minutes time since senior year of high school and have had a lot of bumps along the way,” Stravach said. “It was an amazing feeling crossing the finish line knowing what I had just accomplished and seeing the reactions of my teammates and coaches.”
Sophomore Ariana Newhouse raced with a time of 57.96 in the 400m dash and sophomore Jordan Small earned a mark of 1.59 meters in the high jump, both finishing second in their respective events. To close out the weekend, the 4x400m relay team composed of junior Erica Goldman, Leonard and sophomores Dilys Osei and Newhouse finished second with a time of 3:57.22.
Next week, March 3-4, qualified Eagles will compete in the Last Chance Meet at Tufts University (Mass.) where Bland, Brown, Rogin and Sullivan along with the women’s 4x400m relay team will have a final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships held at North Central College (Ill.) March 10-11.
