AMHERST, Mass.-- The Ephs finished 4th--and 1st among D-III competition--at the UMASS Invitational on Saturday. The University of Albany, 2010 IC4A track and field champions in indoor track, won the ten-way meet with 201.5 points. Only Albany, UMass Amherst, and Yale finished in front of the Ephs. In addition, Anthony Raduazo earned the NCAA provisional time in the 3000m steeplechase as he ran alone to victory in that event.
Stephen Simalchek '13 won the javelin event easily for the second time in as many meets as his throw of 198' 3" was more than 21' longer than the 2nd place finisher, Christopher Vercollonne of Division I UMass Amherst. Teammate Chris Cameron '13 was 4th, his throw a Division III Championships qualifier as well.
Rusty Cowher '12 has led the Ephs in the shotput all season, but his margin of victory over the closest teammate was narrower this week as Syvad Young '12 had a strong through of 13.24m, just .18m behind Cowher. The two Eph athletes finished 6th and 7th, respectively. The highest Eph finisher not named Simalchek in the throwing events was Matt Farley '11, who threw a season's best 48.62m in the hammer throw.
Tomas Kearney's '12 triple jump was a bit off from his personal best mark set during indoor season; nonetheless he finished 2nd in that event with a 13.62m leap. Steve Rubin '11 was 6th. The triple jump is usually Rubin's strongest jumping event but on Saturday his 4th place finish in the jong jump, an event in which he beat teammate Isaac Nicholson '11, was the better result of the two. Both jumps for Rubin were Division III Championship qualifiers.
With Brian Cole '11 and Connor Kamm '10 taking the week off from racing to continue training in preparation for future championship meets, Edgar Kosgey '10 led the way for the Ephs in the 1500m. Kosgey was 5th in 4:00. Throughout the race Kosgey consistently fought for position in the middle of the pack but was never able to make the big move to mix it up with the leaders. Jabulani Blyden '13 was the Ephs top finisher in the 800m and the only one to nab the Division III qualifier; of course, Blyden will likely have a full slate of other spring events for that championship and is unlikely to race the 800m then.
Corey Watts '10 fought a consistent, biting wind to finish 4th in the 10000m behind only three runners from UMass Amherst. Davis Filippell '12 set a PR in the 5000m, running 15:52 and finishing 5th.
With Rich Fusco '12 and Jabulani Blyden '13 both running the 800m, the sprints crew was left without two of its strongest weapons. Blyden did double to finish 5th in the 110m hurdles, but other than Blyden, no other Eph sprinter scored in the meet.
Next week the Ephs will host their first track meet in two years as they invite rivals Amherst and Wesleyan to town for the Little Three Championships. It also is the last opportunity for athletes to qualify for NESCAC's.
