CHAMPS! Ithaca Men Win Ninth Empire 8 Title
COMPLETE RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERY
UTICA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's track & field team claimed its second straight Empire 8 Conference Indoor Championships, and ninth overall, at Utica College's Hutton Dome on Saturday afternoon. Ithaca totaled 123.5 team points to edge out the host Pioneers by 17.5 points.
St. John Fisher College was third with 88 points, followed by Stevens Institute of Technology with 85.5. Alfred University was next at 36 points, while Houghton College (16) and Nazareth College (10) rounded out the championship.
Fisher's
Peter Girardi and
Mark VanMarter were both honored by the Empire 8, Girardi winning Men's Track Athlete of the Meet, and VanMarter winning Men's Field Athlete of the meet.
Ithaca junior
Tim Chappell won the 5,000-meter run in 15:16.57, while senior
Jesse Capellaro followed in second with a time of 15:17.54.
The 4x400-meter relay squad of junior
Gerardo Munoz, sophomore
Derek Howes, and freshmen
Robert Greenwald and
Daniel Harden-Marshall topped the field in facility record time of 3:24.87.
Ithaca's distance medley relay team of freshman
Jeff Montgomery, sophomore
Aaron Smith, freshman
Logan Winningham and sophomore
John Blake notched another first place finisher for the Bombers in 10:43.07, which was two seconds faster than the runners-up from Stevens.
Harden-Marshall was the runner-up in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.03 seconds, and took fourth in the 200-meter dash at 22.55 seconds. He continued to stellar championship with a third place finish in the long jump with a mark of 6.65 meters.
The pole vault was also dominated by the Bombers as three athletes placed between second and fourth. Junior
David Dorsey took second at 4.40 meters, freshman Joey Nally came in third at 4.25 meters and freshman
Alex Dempsey was fourth at 4.10 meters.
Senior
Larry Cass reached 15.40 meters in the weight throw to take second overall.
Utica's
Nicodemus Gambill broke his own E8 Championship meet record and won the 60 meter dash with a time of 6.88. He also broke 22 seconds for the first time this season in the 200 meter dash as he set a facility and meet record with a 21.99 to earn his second Empire 8 title of the day.
Thrower
Sam Kaczmarek set a new Empire 8 meet record in the shot put as he posted a toss of 15.94 meters and took home first place and ten points for the Pioneers. Utica's
Sam Bonk added a third place finish in the shot put as he posted a distance of 14.12 meters. Freshman
Tyler Mosher set a personal best in the shot put as he took home fifth place with a toss of 13.47 meters.
The Pioneer throwers also came up big and secure nine team points in the weight throw. Kaczmarek came in third with a personal-best toss of 15.30 meters. Senior
Jon Hoover came in fifth with a toss of 14.72 meters and Bonk added a sixth place finish with a distance of 14.51 meters.
Utica earned 15 team points in the men's one mile as
Erik Winberg,
Mitchell Marlow and
Tyler Wright each placed in the top six. Winberg and Marlow both broke the previous school-record in the event. Winberg is now the school-record holder as he posted a time of 4:21.25 and earned second place. Marlow broke out with a time of 4:21.80 and took home third place, while Wright placed sixth with a respectable time of 4:26.32 in the deep field.
Utica's Ka'Sean Watlington earned 16 points for Utica as he posted a second place finish in the men's long jump (6.73m) and also added a second place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 13.82 meters.
VanMarter finished the meet with first place finishes in the long jump, high jump, and triple jump. He set a personal record in the triple jump with a distance of 13.93 meters, finished the long jump at 6.91 meters, and posted 1.93 meters in the high jump.
Girardi set a new personal and facility record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.15 in the preliminary round. The senior would finish first in the finals with a time of 8.26.
Eddie Mahana also competed in the event, taking the runner up spot with a time of 8.45, which is a new personal-best for the freshman. Girardi would also claim the runner up spot in the 200-meter dash, clocking in at 22.51.
Girardi placed first in the 400-meter dash, crossing finish in 48.84, which broke both a facility record and meet record, while qualifying for ECACs as well.
Jack Behlmaier placed seventh in the event setting a new personal record at 51.40. Mahana would place ninth at 51.78, which is a new personal-best time.
The 4X400-meter relay team of Girardi, Mahana, Behlmaier, and
John Woodworth sealed the runner up spot in the event with a time of 3:25.02, less than one second behind Ithaca.
Stevens senior
Nicholas Zickgraff recorded the only first-place finish for the Ducks, finishing the one-mile run in 4:18.68, which broke the meet record.
The top performer for Alfred University was senior
Jeffrey Nunez in the weight throw as he won the event with a distance of 15.70 meters. Junior
Sammy Davis finished second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.11.
The Houghton men were led by
Leland Roberts, who won the men's pole vault with a jump of 4.40m (14' 5.2''), prevailing in a thrilling duel with Ithaca's David Dorsey.
Senior Matt Battaglia accounted for all 10 of Nazareth's team points by winning the 800-meter run with a facility-record time of 1:56.35.