Men’s Track & Field Repeat as UAA Champions

Apr. 20 – (CHICAGO, Ill.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men’s track and field team defended their University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Championship by collecting 198.50 points, edging the host University of Chicago’s 180 points at the two day event Saturday, April 19 and Sunday, April 20. On Sunday the Tartans built on their slight six point lead after day one thanks to some gritty performances from athletes asked to compete in multiple events throughout the two day competition. The scoring system had 10 points for finishing first, eight for second, then six, five, four, three, two, and one point for placing eighth in an event.

Carnegie Mellon swept the three weight throwing events courtesy of sophomore James Hulley (Northampton, Mass.) and senior Mike Reggie (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep). Hulley won the shot put (season best 14.77 meters) and the discus (school record 45.50 m) and Reggie placed first in the hammer throw (48.63 m). Junior Chris Fornataro (Ellwood City, Pa./Riverside) added depth as he placed fourth in the discus (personal record of 40.88 m), fifth in the hammer (42.14 m), and eighth in the shot put (12.54 m). Reggie added an eighth place finish in the discus (36.71 m) and a seventh place finish in the shot put (12.87 m).

Junior Brian Harvey (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) and senior Scott Fortune (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) came up huge for Carnegie Mellon in the mid-distance running events. Harvey won the 1,500 meters (3:57.62), and Fortune won the 800 meters (1:59.12). Harvey was right on Fortune’s heels to place second in the 800 (1:59.33) and both participated on the Tartans’ 4x800 meter relay team that finished first in a time of 7:53.40. Early in the day on Saturday, sophomore Dario Donatelli (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) and freshman J.P. Allera (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) raced the 10,000 meters with Donatelli placing second (32:16.84) and Allera third (32:19.54). On Sunday they raced the 5,000 meters alongside Harvey. Harvey placed fourth (15:03.72), Allera was sixth (15:05.31), and Donatelli placed seventh (15:05.47).

Carnegie Mellon’s jumpers also performed well at UAAs. Freshman Essien Ohues (Alpharetta, Ga./Chaptahoochee) finished second in the high jump with a personal record of 1.99 meters. Senior Eric Tang (Alhambra, Calif./Dunn School) took home a trio of third place finishes, with one coming in the long jump (6.67 m) and another in the triple jump (season best of 13.68 m). Tang also finished third in the 100 meter dash on Sunday in 11.05 seconds after breaking 11 seconds (10.98) Saturday during the 100 preliminaries. Freshman Brad Holden (Lunenburg, Mass.) set a personal record in the high jump (1.89 m) en route to finishing fourth and freshman Patrick O’Brien (Furnance, Pa./State College Area) placed eighth with a personal record height of 1.84 meters. O’Brien tacked on a fifth place finish in the triple jump (12.87 m) and Ohues finished tied for sixth (12.75 m). Sophomore Chris Bridgman (Casselberry, Fla./Lyman) collected a second place finish in the pole vault (4.40 m) and senior Chris Uhrinek (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) finished fifth in the javelin (47.20 m).

Sophomore Chris Bogie (Darien, Conn.) finished third in the 400 meter hurdles with a season best time of 55.29 seconds and junior Craig Hahn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) took fifth in 56.35 seconds. Hahn placed fifth in the 110 meter high hurdles with a season best time of 15.97 seconds. Junior Ryan Anderson (Orchard Park, N.Y.) finished third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase Saturday (season best 9:34.86) and followed that with a fourth place finish in the 1,500 meters on Sunday (personal record 4:01.15). Ohues finished seventh in the 200 meter dash (22.85 seconds), freshman Nate Bussiere (Canton, Conn.) was sixth in the 800 meters (2:01.81), and senior Drew Miller (West Chester, Pa./Westchester East) was seventh in the 1,500 meters (4:02.92).

The Carnegie Mellon 4x400 meter relay team placed third (3:25.90) and their 4x100 meter relay team took fourth (43.04 seconds).