Raider Track Teams Succeed At Class of ’32 Invitational

Last weekend the Colgate men’s and women’s track teams competed in the Class of ’32 Invitational at Sanford Fieldhouse. Both teams posted outstanding finishes, with the women capturing the title and the men placing second.

The Raider women began the meet by taking the top four places in the 3,000-meter run. Sophomore Kathryn Marvel placed first, while senior Sarah Hildebrand took second place and junior Meaghan McAnaney and first-year Catilin English rounded out the top four. In the mile run, the Raiders were led by juniors Hannah Failing and Liz Crowley, taking second and third respectively. In the sprinting events, first-year Curry Knox took second place in the 55-meter hurdles, while first-year Andrea Fugazot finished third in the 400-meter dash.

In the field events, first-year Rita Santibanez placed first in the shot put with a distance of 12.44 meters, while also taking second place in the weight throw. The Raiders gained valuable points in the long jump when first-years Katrina Zawojski and Ashley Mecone finished the event in second and third place, respectively.

Head coach Laura Nardelli was pleased with the way the team performed.

“We were happy with the win, as Cortland usually has a well-rounded and deep team,” Nardelli said. “Also a number of women got on Colgate’s all time record board, including Rita [weight throw, shot put], Curry [55 and 55 hurdles)] and Ashley Mecone [55m].”

The Colgate women travel to Syracuse this weekend for the Syracuse Invitational. The Colgate men were originally scheduled to go to Boston this weekend, but the meet was rescheduled. the team will go instead to Syracuse to compete. Nardelli looks forward to the meet.

“Syracuse looks to be a competitive meet, with both Binghamton and Syracuse bringing full squads to the meet, which should make for a little more competition than was here at the Class of ’32,” she said.

The Colgate men’s track team also competed in the Class of ’32 Invitational, taking second place behind Cortland. The Raiders picked up a significant amount of points in field events. The team was led by sophomore Jon Corssett, who earned three top-four finishes. Corssett took second in both the triple jump and high jump and fourth in the long jump. Junior Alden Ellis placed second in the long jump.

In the sprinting events, the Raiders won the 400-meter dash thanks to a first-place finish by sophomore Thomas Dilworth and a second place finish by first-year Micheal Walden. Meanwhile, sophomore Terrence Dilworth came in first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.13 seconds.

In the distance events, the Raiders were led by junior Mike Hanlon, who won the 5,000-meter event by a commanding 34 seconds. For his performance in the meet, he was named the Patriot League Track Runner of the Week. In the same race, Colgate captured third, fourth and fifth places thanks to first-years Emmett Weatherford, Joe Schaeffer and Robbie Green, respectively. The men also captured two relay titles in the 4×400 and distance relay.

According to Head Coach Art McKinnon, the meet was a lot closer than it looked on the scoreboard.

“While there was a 24-point difference in the score between Cortland and Colgate, Cortland scored 35 points in two events – the 35-pound weight and the shot put – events where Colgate had only one athlete,” McKinnon said. “The Class of ’32 meet is always a great meet because it is at home and that draws alumni, friends and family to Colgate to watch the meet.”

“We have never run at Syracuse, so this will be a new experience,” McKinnon said. “Their track is round and has a reputation of being fast. Hopefully this will help our sprinters and mid-distance runners tune up for the meet at Boston on February 11 on the BU banked track.”