Track Gets on the Map

Last Saturday, both the men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Cambridge, Mass. to compete in the Harvard Challenge. For the second meet in a row, neither team had scores record­ed due to the limited number of events they participated in, yet there were several notable individual performances.

In the women’s meet, junior star Elise DeRoo picked up where she left off in cross country last fall, winning two of the events that she competed in. In the 100-meter run, DeRoo blazed around the track and snapped the tape in a mere 2:54.96. DeRoo finished nearly 3.5 sec­onds ahead of the nearest competitor. Sophomore Ellen Callahan also placed in the top five in the event, crossing the line in 3:04.27. DeRoo was arguably even more dominant in the mile run. DeRoo completed the race in a personal best 4:55.27, and easily beat the ECAC qualification time of 5:01.14.

“It’s essential to face good competi­tion early in the season so that you know what it’s like to race against strong com­petitors come the end of the season, when the big races show up on the calendar,” DeRoo said.

The team performed well as a whole in the 300-meter run, as Colgate grabbed three of the four top positions. Sopho­more Caroline Prins took home second place in the event with a personal-best time of 10:18.45, good enough to put her in the top five in the event in the Patriot League this season. Prins was followed by senior Julie Tarallo and junior Kelly Cat­tano in second and third place, with times of 10:24.26 and 10:37.29, respectively.

Colgate also had a reasonable amount of success in the sprinting events. In the 200-meter dash, senior captain Michelle Miller placed third overall with a final time of 26.27.

The men’s team did not record team scores at the meet, but experienced a great deal of success on an individual level.

In the 500-meter dash, the Raid­ers took home two of the podium spots, with senior Andrew Smith and ju­nior Tim Metivier taking second and third place, respectively. Smith fin­ished the event in 1:05.32, while Me­tivier trailed just behind with a time of 1:05.41.

The squad also experienced success in the distance events. In the mile run, se­nior Dan Gleason completed the race in third place overall with a final time of 4:18.91.

The Raiders also took home podium spots in both medley events at the meet. In the 4×440 relay, Colgate’s “A” squad of junior Graham Tooker, senior Jonathan Knowlton, Smith and Metivier placed third overall with a time of 3:21.48. In the 6-2-4-8 lap medley, another squad composed by senior Ed Boulat, Tooker, Smith and sophomore Chris Johnson placed third overall with a final time of 10:26.04.

Both the men’s and the women’s teams will return to action on Saturday when the teams will host the Class of ’32 Invi­tational, Colgate’s only home meet of the season at the Sanford Field House.