The Geneseo men's and women's indoor track and field teams participated in two meets on Jan. 26, splitting their squad to compete at the non-team scoring Hamilton Invitational at Hamilton College and the SPIRE Midwest Indoor Track & Field Open at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Both groups turned in impressive performances that set the stage for the remainder of the indoor season.
Regarding the decision to send athletes to different competitions on the same weekend, head coach Dave Prevosti said that it was “not uncommon” for teams to send athletes to two locations.
“From a budgetary standpoint, it would serve us for runners,” he added, referring to the benefits that track athletes would reap on the large track at SPIRE.
At Hamilton, sophomore Phil Longo won the high jump and paced the men's team. Sophomore Luke Taverne finished behind Longo in third place. A trio of Geneseo pole vaulters also fared well, with junior Jake Pasanen, sophomore Joe Biscardi and freshman Robert Coon taking second, fifth and sixth place, respectively. Senior thrower Brendan Murphy finished as runner-up in both the shot put and the weight throw.
On the women's side, junior Carrie Levinn finished in second place in the high jump, leading a quartet of Knights in the event with freshman Claire Triller in fourth, junior Carly Biondi in sixth and senior Shannon King in seventh. Senior Rachel Serpe took home second place in the pole vault, and on the track, senior Danae Polsin finished the mile in five minutes, 27 seconds, which earned her third place.
In Ohio, the women's team dominated the distance events. Sophomore Keira Wood continued her excellent season, placing second in the 800-meter run, graduate student Alyssa Smith came in third in the mile run and junior Mary Aldridge finished third in the 3,000-meter run. In the 5,000-meter run, sophomores Cassie Goodman and Joanna Castrogivanni placed second and third, respectively. In addition to the remarkable individual finishes, Wood, senior Cailin Kowalewski, Smith and junior Allison Hoh won the distance medley relay.
While the men's team endured
many race day scratches, junior Nathaniel Deboever took third in the 600-meter run and senior Chris Carter placed fourth in the 800-meter run. Deboever's time of 1:32.21 also set a new school record.
Prevosti said that the majority of the scratches were due to sickness.
“It's flu season, so we lost a lot of people,” he said.
The Knights return to action Saturday Feb. 2 when they travel to SUNY Brockport for the host team's invitational.