On Friday, Jan. 19, Hamilton’s men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted the Hamilton Invitational, the first and only home meet of the indoor season. The teams invited included the State University of New York at Oswego, University of Rochester, Utica College, Le Moyne College, Union College, and St. Lawrence University. The meet was non-team scoring, meaning that only individuals were placed. Both the men’s and women’s teams won seven events; on the whole, they had an array of strong performances across the board.

Friday’s meet commenced with the women’s 5000 meter run, in which Grace Heller ’19 took first place with a time of 18:51, running with a steady drive to outpace her competitors. On the men’s side, Hamilton’s Henry Whipple ’18 also took first place with a time of 15:14, locked in a tight race until the end when he managed to pull away from Le Moyne’s Sean Beney. Close behind him in fifth place was Peter DeWeirdt ’18, with a time of 15:30.

Hamilton athletes also dominated the 60 and 200 meter dashes, with Catherine Berry ’19 winning bothevents on the women’s side and Eli Saucier ’18 winning both events on the men’s side. Berry finished with a time of 8.14 seconds in the 60 meter and 26.52 seconds in the 200 meter. Saucier won with a time of 7.03 seconds in the 60 meter and 22.67 seconds in the 200 meter.

In the 500 meter dash, William Richardson ’21 debuted with a time of 1:08.64, putting him a mere .04 seconds behind the first place finisher, Daniel Allara of Rochester. In the women’s race, Hannah Katz ’21 finished in eleventh place with a time of 1:35.35.

Hamilton won both the men’s and women’s 800 meter run. Mary Lundin ’19 won the women’s race with a time of 2:26.15, putting a solid three seconds in between her and the next competitor. Lucas Wright ’21 blew away his competition in the men’s 800 meter run, winning by a margin of about 50 meters with a time of 1:56.93. He catapulted into the lead from the beginning of the race, putting an ever-increasing gap between him and the rest of the pack. Cal Reynolds ’20 also ran a great race, finishing seventh amidst a tight pack of strong competitors with a time of 2:06.73.

Hamilton’s Michaela Guinee ’18 won the women’s 1000 meter run in 3:16.27, and Andrew Sinclair ’18 narrowly missed taking first for the men’s race by less than two seconds, finishing in 2:42.41.

In the one mile run, Hamilton’s Hanna Jerome ’18 took second place with a time of 5:12.55 in the women’s race. She finished just over a second behind St. Lawrence’s Mary Terhune in a nail-biting race. In the men’s mile, Colin Horgan ’19 took tenth place with a time of 4:38.12.

Hamilton’s Eric Wohl ’18 ran an incredible race in the men’s 3000 meter run, battling back multiple challengers throughout the 15 laps of the race, pushing ahead to victory in the last two laps to finish in first place with a time of 9:02. In the women’s race, Courtney Brunet ’20 and Katherine Cronin ’21 finished in seventh and eighth place respectively, with times of 11:42 and 11:45.

In the 60 meter hurdles, Hamilton’s Karina Bayrakdarian ’21 finished in sixth place with a time of 10.43 seconds in the finals, improving from her time of 10.49 seconds in the preliminary heat.

Hamilton’s relay teams also gave strong performances in Friday’s meet. The women’s 4×200 meter relay team of Catherine Berry ’19, Gillian Roberts ’19, Diamond Jackson ’21, and Caitlin McHugh ’20 won first place with a time of 1:52.16. The women’s 4×400 meter relay team of Mary Lundin ’19, Brigit Humphreys ’21, Guinee, and Jerome also took first place in 4:19.53. Additionally, The men’s 4×400 team of William Richardson ’21, Lucas Wright ’21, Eli Saucier ’18, and Justin Dillane ’18 captured the win, finishing with a time of 3:31.79.

In the field events (though on Friday they were really field-

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events), Hamilton’s Preston DeLaurentis ’18 took first place in the men’s triple jump with a leap of 13.08 meters, half of a meter farther than the second place jumper. In the 35 lb. weight throw, Ty Kunzman ’20 threw 14.94 meters, just .03 meters behind the first place thrower, Dylan Babcock of St. Lawrence. In men’s shot put, Patrick Malin ’18 threw 11.95 meters to take sixth place.

In the women’s pole vault, Hamilton’s Lucille Brinkman ’21 took third place with a vault of 2.75 meters. Emily Steates ’19 took fifth place in the women’s triple jump with a jump of 9.62 meters. In women’s shot put, Sophia Tawney ’21 took fourth place with a throw of 10.26 meters.

Through all of these strong performances, it is clear that both of Hamilton’s track and field teams are off to a great start, and we can expect to see successful indoor and outdoor seasons in 2018.

Ryan Sedwick ’19 remarks that, “We had a great first meet last week as a team, where we competed well and really came together to push each other on.”

The next meet for both the men’s and women’s teams is Cornell’s Kane Invitational on January 27th, and Sedwick ’19 believes the team will try to build on the momentum created last weekend, saying, “I think that [last weekend’s meet]’s given us a lot of confidence to go to Cornell this weekend and face some tough competition.”

Hamilton is just beginning a grueling schedule of indoor and outdoor meets, where it does not have weekend off until May. After Cornell, the Continentals head to Ithaca, Colgate, Brockport, and Middlebury during February which rounds out the regular indoor season. The first outdoor meet takes place in Jacksonville, Fla. during spring break.