Williams Athletes Strong Again at Home Meet
Macklin Chaffee '09
Williamstown, MA-- The annual Williams Invitational is admittedly not a meet for personal bests, qualifying times, or school records. Negotiating the 188 meter track, especially at high speeds, can be difficult. But that didn't stop a number of athletes from turning in quality performances or large crowds from coming out to enthusiastically cheer some good competition. Many athletes were competing in secondary events, others utilized the meet as a tune-up for next weeks very competitive Reggie Lewis Invitational in Boston, MA. Still, the atmosphere was extremely positive and the team definitely felt as though they took a step forward with the meet.
This years invitational featured four teams: SUNY Delhi, SUNY Cobleskill, Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute, and Williams. There were no team results as the meet was not scored.
Absent from the meet were several familiar events like the 200m and 800m races. Sprinters, therefore, ran primarily the 55m, 4x400m, and 600m races. For the second week in a row, Deividas Seferis '09 was a standout, winning the 55m race in a time of 6.56. In addition, Matt Sullivan '11 was fastest in the 55m hurdles, running 7.99 seconds and winning by almost half a second. Williams also claimed victory in the 4x400m race, with the combination of Seferis, Taylor Fitzgerald '11, Richard Fusco '12, and Alex Hoerman '09 working together to narrowly defeat SUNY Cobleskill's 3:35.18 effort with a time of 3:34.73.
Despite many of the distance team's top athletes taking the meet off to train vigorously instead, Williams had a very strong showing in the distance races. Brian Cole'11 won the 3000m race in a time of 9:05 and was followed by teammates Geoff Rodriguez '11, and Tim Durham '09. Sam Blackshear '10 claimed second in the mile, and Macklin Chaffee '09 edged out teammate Edgar Kosgey '10 to win the 1000m.
In field events, two underclassmen performed quite well in the triple jump. Tomas Kearney, freshman, won the triple jump with a distance of 12.94 meters. Fellow Eph Steve Rubin '11 was second travelling 12.91 meters.
The Ephs had another solid 1-2 punch in the shot put. Rusty Cowher, another freshman, put forth an impressive effort, throwing 12.46 meters. Nate Newburg, senior, finished second with a throw of 12.14 meters. Newburg and Cowher also finished fourth and fifth respectively in the weight toss behind teammate Matt Farley '11.
Next week promises to be big. The Ephs head to Boston to compete in the Reggie Lewis Invitational. The invite features a gigantic field, many top Division I competitors, and a fast track ideal for clinching qualifying times and setting personal bests. Stay tuned.
