Men’s Track & Field Places Third at UAA Indoor Championships

Mar. 3 – (WALTHAM, Mass.) – The Carnegie Mellon men’s indoor track and field team competed at the 2007 University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3, held at Brandeis University. The Tartans finished third scoring 88 points behind Emory University’s 90.5 and Washington University, who claimed the UAA Men’s Indoor Championship scoring 113 points. The Tartans claimed three UAA Individual Championships in the meet.

Senior Nicholas Bannister (Sugar Land, Texas/Stephen F. Austin) won the 55 meter hurdles with a school record time of 7.72 seconds and senior Eric Tang (Los Angeles, Calif./Dunn) won the triple jump with a distance of 13.45 meters. Freshman James Hulley (Northampton, Mass.) won the shot put, with a distance of 14.12 meters.

The top six finishers in each event scored points for their respective teams at the championship meet. The Tartans supported their individual champions by having other athletes finish in the top six in those events. Junior Kiley Williams (Washington, D.C./Randolph-Macon) placed third in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.05, sophomore Joel Palko (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) took third in the triple jump with a distance of 13.19 m, and junior Michael Reggie (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) placed fourth in the shot put with a distance of 13.99 m. Reggie also placed third in the weight throw with a distance of 14.94 m.

The Tartans compiled a trio of second place finishes, as sophomore Brian Harvey (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) edged his school record time in the mile to take silver on Saturday. Harvey crossed the line in 4:13.36. Tang jumped 6.67 m in the long jump, also good for second place, and Carnegie Mellon’s Distance Medley Relay (DMR) team also finished second. The DMR consisted of senior Davey Quinn (Glen Ellyn, Ill./St. Francis Prep), senior Russel Verbofsky (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel), junior Drew Miller (Westchester, Pa./Westchester East), and Harvey. Quinn ran the 1200 m leg, Verbofsky raced the 400 m leg, Miller ran the 800 m leg, and Harvey finished with the 1600 m leg, crossing the line in 10:15.23, two seconds shy of a school record.

Quinn also raced the 800 meters, finishing in third place with a season best time of 1:55.31. Verbofsky finished fifth in the 200 meters, in a time of 23.18. Sophomore Stephano Dubuc (Springdale, Md./Charles H. Flowers) was the top finisher for the Tartans in the 400 meters, finishing seventh in a season best time of 51.61. Tang competed in the 55 meter dash and finished in eighth place (6.69 seconds). Senior Geoff Misek (Goodrich, Mich.) and Miller both raced in the mile, with Misek finishing eighth (season best of 4:24.73) and Miller 13th (4:26.78). Sophomore Breck Fresen (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) was tops on the team in both the 5000 meters on Friday and the 3000 meters on Saturday. Fresen finished 12th in the 5k (season best of 15:35.00) and tenth in the 3k (season best of 9:04.90).

Carnegie Mellon’s 4x400 meter relay team consisting of Williams, Dubuc, Verbofsky, and sophomore Carlton Reeves (Attleboro, Mass./Moses Brown) rounded off the scoring for the Tartans with a fourth place finish in a time of 3:27.80.