This past weekend was a busy one for the Colgate track and field program, with both the men’s and women’s teams splitting up and competing in four meets over a three-day period. Team scores were not recorded, but all teams experienced success across the board.

On April 16 and 17, the women’s team competed in the Greyhound Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Alexandra Atkinson placed fifth overall out of 27 runners, crossing the finish line with a time of 58.99. Atkinson also performed well in the 100-meter dash, placing fourth in her heat and 19th overall, with a final time of 13.36 seconds. In the 800-meter run, first-year Ellen Callahan placed 16th out of 50 runners, crossing the finish line in an impressive 2:25.96. Senior Ashley Niness produced the highlight of the meet for the Raiders, taking home first place in the 400-meter hurdles. Niness seeded reasonably well with a qualifying time of 1:03.55, but bested the remaining 23 runners in the final heat with a time of 1:03.73. Colgate junior Noelle Edmonson also performed well in the event, placing ninth with a final time of 1:07.80.

The Raiders performed surprisingly well in the 5000-meter run, considering that much of the long distance team was off competing at Princeton. Stacy Marion qualified first in the event with an initial time of 18:15.00, and slipped to third place overall in the final heat with a time of 18:28.69. First-year Sarah Cable placed sixth in the event, finishing the final heat in 18:55.32.

Colgate also continued its success in the relay events, with the ‘A’ team placing second overall in the 4×400-meter relay. The squad, consisting of Atkinson, sophomore Megan Snell, first-year Amy Sleeper and Niness, finished the race in 3:58.98.

Many of Colgate’s distance runners traveled separately from the rest of the team to Princeton, New Jersey to compete in the Larry Ellis Invitational. The meet pinned the Raiders against some of their common Patriot League foes, as well as stiff competition from the Ivy League and other larger programs.

Sophomores Chelsea Burns and Kendall Lyons both set personal records in the 1500-meter run, but neither were able to qualify for the finals the following day. Lyons placed ninth in her heat, finishing the race in 4:35.26, while Burns finished in 4:35.78. Though the times were not enough to qualify for finals, they stand as the third and fourth-best times for the event in the Patriot League this season.

The team will return to the track Thursday through Saturday for the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Following that meet, the team will have just one more competition prior to the Patriot League Championship.

The men’s team also spent the weekend divided, as part of the team competed with the women in the Larry Ellis Invitational. Like the women, the men did not have any runners qualify for the finals due to very talented competition from larger programs, but there were several bright spots for the squad.

In the 800-meter run, sophomore Tim Metivier placed 28th out of 80 runners with a time of 1:54.14. Metivier was followed by juniors Andy Smith (38th) and Jon Knowlton (40th), who finished with times of 1:54.77 and 1:54.9, respectively.

The majority of the Raiders’ squad headed down to Worcester, Massachusetts to compete in a meet hosted by Patriot League foe Holy Cross. Team results were recorded for 19 events, and the Raiders placed last with just 44 points.

That said, there were quite a few good moments for the squad at the meet. In the 1500-meter run, first-year Chris Johnson placed third overall with a time of 4:00.49, followed closely in fifth place by junior teammate Ed Sheridan, who finished in a respectable 4:09.35.

Colgate also placed two runners in the top 10 in the 400-meter run. Sophomore Graham Tooker finished fifth in the event with a time of 51.36 and was followed in seventh place by first-year Michael Nieliwodski, who finished with a time of 51.57.

The Raiders performed exceptionally well in the 800-meter run, placing three runners in the top 10 of a field of 29 athletes. Juniors Ed Boulat (4th), Eric Sause (5th) and Dan Schwaibold (9th) crossed the finish line in 1:55.79, 1:56.75 and 1:59.75, respectively. In the 5000-meter run, junior Grant Stauffer powered to a fifth place finish, completing the event in 15:25.38.

The Raiders will return to the track on Thursday at the Penn relays, and will also work to build towards the Patriot League

Championships.