Men's and women's track compete at first home meet

The men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in their first home meet of the indoor season this past Saturday, Dec. 11 at Jadwin Gym. Competing against the Tigers were runners from Monmouth, Penn, Rider, and the College of New Jersey. The teams split a total of 14 first and second place finishes between their runners, proving that the program is certainly ready for a successful season to come.

On the men’s side of things, the team had a total of six first and three second place finishes. In the first event of the meet, junior Sebastian Silveira came in second at 8.29 seconds and senior James Burns placed third with a finish of 8.41s in the finals of the 60m hurdles. Then, sophomore football running-back and track sprinter Charlie Volker nabbed the silver medal in the finals of the 60m dash with a 6.86s finish. Another second place finisher was junior Franklin Aririguzoh, who clocked in at 1:21.57 in the 600m dash. Sophomore Justice Dixon and senior Carrington Akosa both placed first in the 400m and 300m dashes, respectively.

The Tigers killed it in the center of the track in their field events, placing first in four of the five events in which they contended. Sophomore Adam Kelly placed first in the finals of the weight throw, senior Lane Russell placed first in the triple jump, senior August Kiles got the victory in the pole vault, and freshman Jeffrey Hollis won the high jump.

The women showed their competitive edge as well this weekend, with four first place finishes. The distance crew ran last weekend and took this meet off, so taking into consideration that half the team was not competing, this performance is even more impressive. Senior Katie DiFrancesco won the 300m dash, junior Carly Bonnet got the victory in the 400m dash, junior Ellie Randolph was first in the long jump, and freshman Katie Barnett won the triple. Senior Kennedy O’Dell was second in the weight throw and shot put.

The female Tigers will next compete at Ocean Breeze on Jan. 13 in the Great Dane Classic and the men will next compete Jan. 6 at Navy.