Sports
Men’s and women’s track & field teams continue to improve as they prepare for championship meets
By Joe Jensen ’15
April 17, 2015
Despite cold temperatures, Hamilton’s track & field teams already have several meets under their belt. After this coming Saturday, the track team will have competed in three meets over the span of one week. Though the schedule is hectic, the Continentals are excited that they compete on such a regular basis.
On April 11, the teams attended The ROC City classic hosted by Nazareth College. Both sides had good showings, though there were no team scores at this meet.
Leading the way for the men’s team was outdoor school record holder Adam Pfander ’16. He led the pack in the 10K, winning the event with a time of 31:50. Close behind was his teammate Jack Pierce ’17 who finished in second just 16 seconds back.
Both of these runners are making vast improvements since the indoor season.
Two other runners that are looking to build off of their indoor seasons are Christian Belardi ’18 and Dan Baer ’15. Belardi finished in sixth place for the 110- meter hurdles while Baer took third in the 5K.
The women’s team also had some strong performances. Bringing home the best finish was Lindsay Heyer ’17, who was second in the 5K with a time of 18:46.08. The women’s 3,200-meter relay also posted a second place finish. This team consisted of Hanna Jerome ’18, Mattie Seamans ’18, Sam Buttrick ’17 and Tina Choinski ’15.
More individual performances of note came from Jerome and Michelle Fish ’17 who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 1,500-meter run. Seamans also took home a sixth place finish in the 400-meter dash.
Most recently, the Continentals hosted the Hamilton College Mid-Week Meet. This meet is a great tune-up for the runners and allows them to get in some events they might not usually run. There were many top three finishes on both the men’s and women’s teams.
The men had many strong performances. Matt McCarron ’17 and Nate Somes ’16 finshed first and second respectively in the 400-meter dash. Grant Whitney ’17 and Jon Stanhope ’17 placed second and third in the 800-meter dash.
In the 1500-meter run, Hamilton took the top three places, going from first to third: Stanhope, Pfander, and Andrew Sinclair ’18. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the men then went on to sweep the top five places in the 3K. Harrison Sullivan ’16 took home the victory and just a second later came Pierce. Rounding out the top five was Pfander, David Freeman ’16 and Baer. Leonard Kilekwang ’16 also had a solid meet winning the triple jump.
The women’s team matched the men’s side with a great day of their own. Buttrick led the way winning the 400-meter dash while Heyer took the first place finish in the 3K. In second and third in the 3K were Abigale Uehling ’18 and Catherine Weppler ’18. The women would go on to sweep the top seven places in the 1500 with the top three finishers being Fish, Choinski, and Emily Banzer ’15.
In the field events, Emily Hull ’18 had a great day. She won the hammer throw and came in second in the discus throw.
Hamilton’s outdoor track team will look to build off these great performances this coming weekend. They will be running at the UAlbany Spring Classic held in Albany, New York. This will be their final regular season meet before NESCACS and the NYSCTC Championships.