This past weekend, the Hopkins men's track team headed out to race in two separate invitationals - the Maryland Invitational and the Towson Invitational. The meets were very successful for the team, as the Blue Jays had multiple runners place in the top 10 of their various heats and events.
At the Towson Invitational, Matt Stankiewicz won the high jump and placed sixth in the long jump with a leap of 5.66 meters. Gordon Mack and Brahma Kumar ran in the 400-meter race. Mack finished in sixth place with a time of 52.52 while Kumar finished right behind him, in seventh place, with a time of 53.13. In the 400-meter hurdles, Lee Ouyang earned the fifth place spot.
Four Jays finished in the top 10 in the 10,000-meter race. Mark Lo Galbo was the first Hopkins runner to cross the line, with a time of 34:18.43. His teammates Andrew Yen, Rick Carrick and Drew Lefkof finished in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, with times of 34:18.44, 34:52.17 and 36:11.90.
In the field, Peter Li and Ryan Lino both competed in the shot put. Li placed third with a throw of 13.76 meters and Lino finished right behind Li with a throw of 13.61 meters. Freshman Luke Sand placed eighth in the discus with a heave of 36.88 meters. Ted Heron placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 45.80 meters.
At the Maryland Invitational, Michael Yuan placed fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:10.98. In the 1,500 meter run, Derek Cheng finished in fifth place in his heat with a time of 4:11.39. In the 400-meter dash, Andrew Henry finished in third place out of his heat with a time of 53.07 seconds. Sophomore Elliott Wehner ran a 2:01.31 in the 800-meter dash.
In the shorter distance races, Jonathon Walker finished third in his heat in the 200-meter dash. He ran a time of 23.03 seconds. Fellow Jay Pierre Hage finished with a time of 23.70 seconds in the same event.
In the longer distance races, freshman Brian Rooney finished with a time of 15:31.44 in the 5,000-meter race.
"I think the team performed very well against some legitimate schools. We did really well on the track, especially the 10k and 400m and the field events put up some solid performances. Coach always wants us to get to that next level, and I feel like everyone has been stepping it up by putting in strong practices, which lead to strong performances on the track. Anything could happen this season, but as of now I see us showing the conference that we're not a sixth place team anymore," Gerald Billac said about the team's performance this weekend at the Maryland and Towson Invitationals.
"The team performed about as well as we expected going into the meet. It was the first outdoor meet and the first race in a month for most people, so we expected a little bit of a drop-off in performance as everyone got used to racing again. However, some people were still able to run good times. In my opinion, the best events for us were the steeplechase and the 200. Mike Yuan ran a personal best in the steeplechase and finished fifth. In the 200, Jonathan Walker, Ross Bittman and Pierre Hage all ran solid times for this point in the season. Also, at the Towson Invitational, Mark Lo Galbo and Andrew Yen ran well in the 10,000. They finished together and were only a few seconds off of the freshmen record in that event," Brandon Hahn, a sophomore runner on the team, said.
"Coach Van Allen stressed the importance of this meet because it had some of the best competition that we will see for the next month," Hahn continued. "He made sure that everyone was mentally back from spring break and ready to compete. The rest of the season is looking good for us because after a disappointing finish to the indoor season, everyone is ready to do better at the outdoor championship. We are all prepared to do the work necessary to achieve success at the conference championship."
This coming weekend, the team will head to Duke to compete in the Duke Invitational in Raleigh, N.C.
