The Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams completed the Fastrack National Invitational in Staten Island, NY, on Friday, February 9. There, graduate student Laura Mathews reached 5.64 meters in the long jump, breaking her own school record set the week before at the Frank Colden Invitational.
Mathews also competed in the 60-meter hurdles with teammate and fellow graduate student Kristen Williams. The two finished in second and seventh, respectively, posting times of 8.65 and 9.16 seconds, and ranked 1-2 in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC), being the highest DIII finishers.
In the high jump, junior Caroline Tighe’s second-place finish in this individual event, with a personal best of 1.65 meters, brought her to 15th in the country. During her performance, head coach John Kolibab stated that this performance was a “massive breakthrough” and that she “has been trending towards this moment for a long time.” Kolibab also noted that he is pleased with her new ranking, as it reflects his idea that she belongs in the “national conversation.”
The coach also highlighted the performance of senior Nina Burden, who took on the 800 as her season debut and finished the race in 2:21:76. This time moved her to sixth in the league and was the second-fastest of her indoor career. Sophomore Isabel Vogel was also moved to sixth in the conference when she put down a season-best time of 1:02:48 in the 400-meter dash, and first-year Isabella Shanley took 11th in the conference with a collegiate-best time of 26.84 seconds in the 200.
For the men, sophomore Danny Jutras moved to fifth of the MAC leaderboard when he completed what Kolibab called a “head-scratchingly amazing performance,” where Jutras had shaved down his mile more than six seconds to a new personal best of 4:21:56. In the same race, senior Jake Aylmer recorded a time of 4:21:46, maintaining his conference seat of one. Graduate student Ronnie Melao set a personal record in the mile at 4:18:55, putting him second in the conference.
Completing three events during the day, sophomore Brandon Kiefer took on the 60-meter hurdles, the pole vault, and the long jump. His hurdles time of 9.41 marked the second-fastest of his collegiate record, he matched his pole vault best of 4.05 meters, and he also recorded a season-best of 6.31 in the long jump. In addition to these achievements, Kiefer leads the MAC in the heptathlon.
Senior Federico Yacoubian took 11th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.70 seconds, keeping his second-place ranking in the conference, and first-year Joshua Lim secured his fourth-place ranking in the conference after clearing 1.80 meters in the high jump, placing third at the invitational.
Up next, the Ducks will take on the West Point Tune-Up, taking place tomorrow, Saturday, February 17, in West Point, NY.
