Emory’s men’s and women’s track and field teams recorded 18 individual top-10 finishes on Feb. 8 and 9 during the Samford Bulldog Open in Birmingham, Ala. With 20 Eagles notching excellent times in a variety of events, Emory’s performance made a clear statement of strength despite the unscored invitational.
Senior Dani Bland took one of the first major finishes of the meet with a time of 25.40 in the 200-meter dash, placing ninth. Fellow senior Kayla O’Shea finished seventh in the mile with a time of 5:12.21. Hot on her heels in the same event was freshman Angela Cao, with a ninth-place time of 5:13.76. Sophomore Abby Durfee found success in the 5,000-meter run and finished in eighth at 18:51.86.
Emory women set two season records in track events. Sophomore Olivia Hoekendijk placed seventh in the 1,000m run and set the bar for the Eagles this season at 3:14.89. Sophomore Carrie McIntyre also set a season and personal record in the 3,000m run with a time of 10:18.84.
On the field, senior Paris Wagner pulled off a weight throw distance of 14.87m to claim seventh place. Junior Nyla Lindo triple-jumped to ninth place with 11.27m, earning her the top spot in the season’s record books, and besting the old seasonal record she had previously set.
Over on the men’s side, Emory shone in the 800m and 1,000m runs. In the 800m run, three Eagles placed in the top 10. Freshman Jon Marcus took fourth with a time of 1:55.98 that earned him a season best, while sophomore Tom Perretta followed closely in sixth with a time of 1:56.22 and freshman Liam McGuire took eighth with a time of 1:57.85.
In the men’s 1,000m run, three Eagles finished in the top seven. Sophomore Jacob Hedgepeth took home the University’s only gold medal of the weekend with his first-place finish of 2:33.74. Not far behind were freshman Andy Shew in fourth with a time of 2:39.09 and sophomore Jonathan Rosenfield in sixth with a time of 2:41.24.
Rounding off the list of men’s successes in track events, sophomore Matt Dillon took ninth in the mile at 4:24.41 while sophomore John Cox took sixth in the 5,000m run at 15:20.46. In the 4x400m relay, Perretta, freshman Matthew White, junior Fernando Cardozo and sophomore Liam Fost took eighth with a time of 3:25.60. Fost alone set two new season records for the 200m and 400m dashes, with times of 22.60 and 49.33, respectively.
On the field, freshman Brett Henshey shone with a sixth-place finish from his 2.0m high jump.
The Eagles will travel to Sewanee: The University of the South (Tenn.) on Feb. 15 for the Sewanee Indoor Invitational and to Columbia, S.C., on Feb. 16 for the USC Indoor Open.
