Saturday afternoon saw an array of top finishes for the Boston University men’s track team as the Terriers hosted a five-way meet against Boston College, the University at Albany, Northeastern University and Providence College.
Overall, BU finished in fourth place with a total of 41 points. Albany took home first with 81 points, Northeastern took second and BC, in what seems to be a recurring theme, edged out BU by one point, taking third. Providence came in last with 19 points.
The men posted impressive results in both the short and middle-distance events. The 200-meter sprint saw BU dominate three of the top five positions as Lucjan Zaborowski, Barry Graham and Matt Howard captured second, third and fourth, respectively. Senior Matt Adler won the 500-meter race with a time of 1:03.54, while Zaborowski finished fifth in the same event with a time of 1:07.18.
The 800-meter run saw a third-place finish from freshman Nick Goodman, who was followed directly by junior Andre Nacaxe. Continuing to represent the underclassmen, sophomore Phil Putis placed fourth in the mile and freshman Geoffery Rhizor took fifth in the 1,000-meters.
Not to be outdone, the field athletes also fared well on the afternoon. Junior Jeff McAulay captured gold in the long jump with a distance of 6.77 meters. Ryan Ung took fifth in the triple jump (12.76 meters) and freshman Paul Solazzo threw to a third-place finish (14.37 meters) in the weight throw.
On the women’s side, BU also hosted a meet at the Track and Tennis Center – this time of the three-way variety on Tuesday evening against BC and Providence. The Terriers beat the Friars to place second with 54 points, while the Eagles prevailed (again) with 87 points.
Lauren Rodwell, Erica Sezate and Sharyn Devaney started things off taking second, third and fourth place finishes in the 55-meter dash. Other BU sprinters to post top-five finishes were Kecia Butlin (third in the 200-meters) and Erin Cadden (fourth in the 200). Cadden also took home a second-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles.
The Terriers dominated the 400- and 500-meter races with first- and second-place finishes in both events. Victoria Lopez ran to victory in the 500 with a time of 1:17.18, narrowly beating teammate Erica Shea (1:17.89). The 400 saw Xenia Razinski in fourth place, Ryan Jacqueline in second and freshman Apryl Holder easily winning by a four-second margin (1:04.16).
Holder, a high school track athlete from Boston Latin Academy, did not join the BU program until December, but has been an asset to the team with her consistent results. She acknowledged that she “has been running well lately,” and said because this is something of a rebuilding year for the team, in addition to overall team places, “people are really focusing on their personal bests and personal records.”
Freshman Abbey Sadowski beat out nine other finishers to notch a notable second-place finish in the 800-meters with a time of 2:13.45 before teammate Amy Dannwolf rounded out the top five with a time of 2:17.82.
Two Terriers ran to top-10 finishes in the mile, which boasted the largest field of the day. Coming in eighth was sophomore Jessica Iannacci (4:59.12) and following in ninth was Julia Nazzer (5:03.28). Top distance places also included third- and fourth-place finishes from Jessica Walton and Dina Mijuskovic, respectively, in the 1,000-meters, and third- and fifth-place finishes by Victoria Botticelli and Julia Hincman, respectively, in the 3,000-meters.
Elisa Miller, who flew to fifth place in the pole vault and jumped 11.35 meters to land second place in the triple jump, led an impressive group of field competitors. Mary Ellen Bingham captured first in the triple jump, while Meagan Effinger placed fourth in the shot put and second in the weight throw. Alaina Ramsey took fifth in the shot put and third in the weight throw.
Women’s coach Lesley Lehane called 2004 a building year for BU women’s track. She explained that after a second-place conference result last year and a conference title the year before, the Terriers are left with a young team that is not necessarily focused on a top overall season finish.
Results show that the team certainly has talent and potential, and Lehane is confident about the future.
“Individuals have been progressing,” she said. “And getting faster as the season goes on.”
About half the BU women will be competing next weekend, and the team can be seen in its entirety two weekends from now at the America East Championships at the Track and Tennis Center.