Men’s Track & Field Take Second at Washington & Jefferson Invite

Results

Apr. 8 - (WASHINGTON, Pa.) – Spurred by first place finishes in the 400 meter hurdles, 110 meter high hurdles, and 800 meters, the Carnegie Mellon men’s track & field team finished second with 131 points at the Washington & Jefferson Invitational, behind team champion Allegheny College’s 236.5 points. The ten team invite witnessed cold temperatures and overcast skies for the first half of the meet before the sun finally made an appearance to produce a pleasant late afternoon at Cameron Stadium.

The Tartan men wound up collecting over 20 top five finishes on the day, with senior Jeff Polack (Medina, Ohio) winning the 400 hurdles with a time of 58.04 and junior Nick Bannister (Sugar Land, Texas/Stephen F. Austin) leading the way in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 15.58. Junior Davey Quinn (Glen Ellyn, Ill./St. Francis Prep) rounded out the Tartan first place finishes with a meet record time of 1:56.63 for the 800 meters.

The Tartans had a trio of second place finishes including junior Russel Verbofsky’s (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) time of 51.13 in the 400 meters, freshman Colin Marks’ (Washington Crossing, Md./Council Rock North) triple jump distance of 13.05 meters, and freshman Ryan Anderson’s (Orchard Park, N.Y.) time of 10:00.41 in the 3000 meter steeplechase.

Sophomore Jason Jura (Forest Hill, Md./Dulaney) finished directly behind Anderson in the steeplechase with a time of 10:08.12, good for third place. Junior Keith Torluemke (Redondo Beach, Calif./CA Acad of Math & Sci.) placed third in the 800 meters with a time of 1:57.60, junior Edwin Uber (Pittsburgh, Pa./Allderdice) took third in the pole vault with a height of 3.50 meters, and the men’s 4x400 meter relay team finished third with a time of 3:29.37.

The Tartans took third, fourth, and fifth in the 1500 meter run, with junior Geoff Misek (Goodrich, Mich.) using a late kick to cross the line in third place with a time of 4:06.71 and freshman Brian Harvey (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) and sophomore Drew Miller (Westchester, Pa./Westchester East) finishing right on his heels (4:07.48 and 4:07:54, respectively). Carnegie Mellon took fourth and fifth in the long jump, with Marks recording a distance of 6.06 meters and fellow freshman Joel Palko (Great Latrobe, Pa./Latrobe) finishing with 5.96 meters. Palko also recorded a fourth place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 12.36 meters.

In other events, senior Tom Matta (Erie, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf) finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 13.33 meters, junior Mike Bridenbaugh (Defiance, Ohio) came in fourth in the 5000 meters with a time of 15:49.14, and freshman Carlton Reeves (Attleboro, Mass./Moses Brown) finished fourth with a time of 51.48 in the 400 meter run.

The Carnegie Mellon men’s track & field team will next be in action on Tuesday, April 11, when they host Waynesburg University in a small, dual meet at Gesling Stadium. The meet is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. with races beginning at around 4:30 p.m.