Barnett secures first NCAA berth

Led by Centennial Conference Coach of the Year Bobby Van Allen, Hopkins men’s track had an eventful day at the Tufts Last Chance Meet on Thursday evening.  For most of the Blue Jays who competed, it would be their last chance to qualify for the national meet March 14-15 in Lincoln, Neb.

Freshman Andrew Bartnett stole the show, clearing 15’11.25” (4.86 m) to win the pole vault. In just his first year of collegiate competition, Bartnett is ranked ninth in the nation in the event and is on the verge of setting Hopkins records as well. He is already second all-time in Hopkins history in the pole vault and needs to improve by just .75” to surpass the 16’ (4.88 m) record set by Brian Nichols.

“I feel that I have a good chance of breaking the record,” Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year Bartnett said. “I had some good height over 15’11.25” and I think that with another try, 16’ and beyond will be within reach.”

With his new high mark, Bartnett is in a position to compete at nationals in Lincoln in the pole vault. Bartnett commented on his meteoric rise from high school athlete to collegiate national qualifier. “I focused on making sure I remained consistent in doing the things that worked for me in high school while at the same time finding new things that could help my form,” he said. “Also getting stronger and faster are keys to improving as a pole vaulter.”

Hopkins also found success in other arenas at Tufts on Thursday. The men’s distance medley relay team of junior Julian Saliani, sophomore Trevor Holmgren and Centennial Conference first-team selections senior Collin Rozanski and senior Andrew Carey ran their event in 10:01.84, setting a Hopkins record in the process. Their time was good enough for fourth place in the event.

The relay team smashed their previous season best set at the Bison Open by almost eight seconds. Their new time put them at 14th in the nation in the event (9:53.86 converted for track size). “The key for us on Thursday was to just not think about how many seconds we wanted to drop, but just go run our race” Saliani said.

“Our DMR relay had the pieces to run around 10:00, but it had never come together in one race,” Saliani added. “We knew that if we all ran well the time would be there, and we just tried not to be intimidated by how many seconds we wanted to drop. It was a much tougher race physically than I imagined because we race so many good teams, but I just tried to stay within myself and get us to that time. The other guys in the relay really stepped up and our final time showed it”. Senior Max Robinson finished sixth with a time of 15:01.50 in the 5,000 meter run. Also placing sixth was junior Ryan Walsh who cleared 6’2.00” (1.88 meters) in the high jump.

The Centennial Conference Indoor Track and Field Champion Blue Jays also competed Friday and Saturday at the Eastern College Athletic Championships (ECAC) in their last chance to qualify for the national meet.

Junior Michael Spadaro turned in a strong performance in the heptathlon, placing third in both the 60 meter dash and the shot put and turning in a fifth place finish in the long jump and fourth place in the high jump but came up short of finishing among the top seven qualifiers.

Hopkins finished the day in 59th place at the ECAC Championships, which Bates College won for the second year straight with a team score of 47 points. The extremely competitive event saw four meet records shattered.

These two meets wrap up the end of a very successful men’s indoor track and field season for the Blue Jays who won an invitational at University of Maryland as well as the Centennial Conference Championship. Freshman pole vaulter Bartnett will be competing at the Division III National Championships next week.

“I am just happy to be happy to go to nationals, and I am going to try and have the most fun I can during the experience,” Bartnett said. “With that being said, I am a very competitive person and I want to win.”