The Emory University track and field teams fought hard at Sewanee: The University of the South’s (Tenn.) Mountain Laurel Invitational on April 19, where both the No. 7-ranked women and No. 149-ranked men finished in second place. The women’s team compiled a total of 115 points while the men scored 106.
Freshman Brittney Haney led the way for the women by finishing first in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:10.46 and second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 17.47.
“I really just put my best foot forward given the very difficult conditions for the meet, and am very proud of my results,” Haney said about her runs.
The women’s team compiled four more second-place finishes across the other track events. Sophomore Emily Kastenberg ran the 200m run in 28.22 seconds while sophomore Rachel Shanahan was timed at 2:31.73 for her 800m run. Sophomore Abby Durfee completed the 1500m run in 5:17.01, and sophomore Christina Dwier finished the 3000m steeplechase at 13:11.21. Kastenberg also added a third-place finish when she posted a time of 13.62 in the 100m dash.
In the field events, junior Ayriel Coleman added another second-place showing in the triple jump with a finals mark of 10.84m.
On the men’s side, senior Tyler Breeden earned the Eagles’ only first-place finish in the 3000m run with a time of 9:14.76.
The Eagles added five runner-up finishes at the meet, with junior Fernando Cardozo coming in second in both the 100m dash at 11.48 seconds and 200m dash at 23.22 seconds. Freshmen Anderson Shew, Graham Scott and Kieran Kelly finished second in the 3000m run, 110m hurdles and 40m hurdles, respectively.
While most of the Eagles competed on Friday in the Mountain Laurel Invitational, some of the track and field athletes also competed at the Georgia Tech Invitational on April 19 and 20. There was no team scoring at the meet, where the Eagles competed against some NCAA Division I athletes.
Freshmen Patrick Crockett and Chris Jernigan both shined in the javelin, with Crockett placing fifth at 51.36m and Jernigan obtaining seventh place with a personal-best 48.95m. Fellow freshman Lucas Werner finished 11th in the 110m hurdles with a personal-best time of 15.62 seconds, while sophomore Jacob Hedgepeth beat his personal record in the 1500m run with a time of 3:58.48, earning him 18th place in the event. In the 800m run, both sophomore Thomas Perretta and freshman Jon Marcus compiled personal records, with Perretta finishing in ninth at 1:53.39 and Marcus placing in 23rd at 1:56.29.
On the women’s side, junior Isabel Saridakis took home second place in the pole vault with a height of 3.70m, besting the previous Emory record of 3.68m that she set last year in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, but coming short of her personal and school best of 3.80m she set at the Berry Field Day Invitational this month. In the hammer throw, senior Paris Wagner also finished in the top-10, placing sixth with a distance of 49.45m. In the 1500m run, senior Kayla O’Shea recorded a time of 4:44.07, receiving 12th place for her efforts.
As the Eagles prepare for the UAA championships, Haney said she has already set goals for the competition.
“This weekend, I personally would just like to make it to the second round of competition, and I think we have a lot of people who will make it to the finals,” she said. “It’s our time to leave it all out there. Our coach emphasized that we all need to be encouraging to each other and I think everyone will perform great and do the best that they can.”
The UAA Championships will be held at Emory on April 27 and 28.
