Colgate University’s track and field team had their Patriot League Indoor Championship at Boston University on Feb. 24 and 25.
The men’s team placed eighth with 21 points, racking up six points on the distance medley relay (DMR) with their third-place finish, five points on the 4×4, five points on the mile, three points on the triple jump and two points on the 400-meter. The women’s team placed tenth with two points, collecting a point on the 4×8 and a point on the pole vault.
Junior Ben Horner spoke about the team’s desire for better results.
“We left some points on the table and wanted to perform better,” Horner said.
While they certainly hoped to perform at a higher level, the Patriot League Championship is possibly the team’s most difficult test. Sophomore John Griffith spoke about some of the unique challenges that come with the Patriot League Championship.
“Many of us who made the final round in our events had to be ready to compete both days and preserve energy. Running the same race two days in a row is something we don’t normally train to do and is specific to the Patriot League competition,” Griffith said.
Despite the team’s struggles, several major accomplishments came from the weekend — including multiple broken records.
First-year Kiran George broke the high jump indoor pentathlon school record with a leap of 1.68 meters, first-year Melinda Haagensen broke the pole vault school record with a vault of 3.80 meters and junior Ethan Eisner broke the 400-meter school record with a time of 48:89 seconds. First-year Dakin Ebmeyer, Eisner, Horner and first-year Liam Davis broke the DMR school record with a time of 9:53:21.
“I was really surprised when I jumped 5’6” because I wasn’t really feeling 100 percent that day, and I wasn’t even focusing on [the] high jump as my main event. I really just jumped the way I would have in practice, and it translated well,” George said.
Horner, who was part of breaking the DMR record, spoke about the anticipation building up to it.
“Earlier in the season, we ran a DMR that was just about a second off of the school record. We knew we’d be going for the record, and every one of us executed to break it,” Horner said. “Their time would’ve been the meet record, but two other teams also ran faster than the previous meet record.”
Additionally, several first-year athletes broke school records, including Kwadjo Mensh, who broke the first-year record for the 60-meter dash and Ebmeyer, who broke the first-year record for the mile.
Horner added to this point about the joy that comes with watching your teammates thrive.
“The most fun part about the championship was watching my teammates, especially [Ebmeyer] and [Eisner], run well in the finals,” Horner said.
Griffith also reflected on the special opportunity to play against many other impressive teams and athletes.
“It’s also exciting to just be in the competitive environment and confront our rivals from other Patriot League schools and do our best against them,” Griffith said.
Although the Raiders encountered some adversity at the championship, there were plenty of positive takeaways from the weekend. They achieved new school records, cheered on their impressive first-years and gained valuable experience that will only improve their performance at future meets.
