Sports
Track and field stars reach new heights
By Caitlin O'Connor '14, Sports Editor
February 9, 2012
It wasn’t just runners hitting their stride this Saturday in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House, as the Hamilton Invitational brought out impressive finishes across the board from the Hamilton arsenal of talent, including long distance, sprints and high jump.
Hamilton runners shone in the 5,000-meters this weekend, with both the men and women taking home the top place in the event. Hashem Zikry ’13 posted a respectable time of 15:38.81, while Hannah Lyons outran her closest competitor by over 45 seconds with an 18:46.34.
Both of these athletes benefit from training with the Hamilton cross-country team in the fall, keeping them in shape for a quick winter season that often comes and goes before most other athletes even have time to get back into shape. As Zikry says, “I don’t really have any goals for indoor. I view indoor more as a stepping stone for outdoor track when the real racing starts.”
The long distance events weren’t the only places Hamilton was beating the pack. Sophomore Benjamin Yeo placed fourth in the 800-meter in 2:04.48. In addition, despite coming off a semester-abroad and recent injury, 2011 state champion Jimmy Alexis ’13 managed to place 12th out of over 40 runners in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.52 seconds. Looking ahead, Alexis expressed he would like to “get back into shape off of these injuries, win another state title, and start looking at what I got to do to get to nationals.”
Even with swift races by the men, it was the female Continentals who truly shown in the mid-distance events. The women had four back-to-back finishes in the 800-meter run with senior Glen
Watkins leading the group with a fourth place finish in 2:28.57. She was followed by Sarah Boak ’12, Sarah Ohanesian ’14 and Emily Heckman ’13 respectively, all finishing within five seconds of Watkins’ time.
After a semester abroad, Hamilton phenom Muriel Schwinn ’13 reminded her competitors of her tenacity, placing second in the long jump with a distance of 4.94 meters. She also successfully placed in the top ten of the 200-meter and 60-meter dashes, qualifying for the finals in the sprint with a time of 8.4 seconds.
In addition to the veterans, some fresh meat shook up the Bundy Scott Field House during the competition. First-year Krystina Choinskia took fourth place in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:13.90, while her peer Katie Steates ’15 placed sixth in the high jump with a high of 1.45 meters.
All great performances aside, the true star of the show thus far this season has been Graham Sadler ’14. Sadler was all-league and all-NYSCTC in the high jump his first-year season, but took a year-long hiatus in 2011. He matched the farthest jump of the day on Saturday at 1.95 meters, but fell to second place due to more misses at previous heights than his opponent.
At last week’s Colgate invitational, Sadler broke a school record that was set almost 30 years ago with a height of 1.99 meters, in addition to placing second in the triple jump with a mark of 12.25 meters. According to Alexis, “Sadler is a stellar athlete and has been integral to our success these past weeks.”
Hopefully Sadler’s success continues as the team travels to compete at Cornell University this weekend, and everyone can witness Alexis’s prediction that his record-breaking teammate, “is a force to be reckoned with this year.”