Track Victorious at Denault Memorial

On Saturday, the men’s and women’s track teams honored the memory of a fellow Red track star, Marc “the Spark” Denault ’01 at the Marc Deneault Memorial Invitational at Barton Hall. In the last competition before the Indoor Heps, the squads collectively earned nineteen wins.
[img_assist|nid=35458|title=Spot the landing|desc=The men’s and women’s track teams had a successful weekend at the Denault Memorial meet at Barton Hall. The teams’ good performance is indicative of their preperation for Heps.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
The Most Valuable Performers of last year’s meet were at it again this year. Junior Erik Roneker won MVP again in impressive style as he placed first with ECAC qualifying measurements in the shotput, 16.86 m, and in weight throw, 19.96 m, three meters higher than the ECAC requirement. The women’s MVP from last year, junior Jessica Weyman, did not repeat with the title yet still was victorious in the 300-meter with a time of 39.75 s. This year top honors were shared between senior Janice Nsor, victor in the 60-meter dash, and Essex Community College freshman Sasha-Kay Matthias, who performed well in the 60-meter dash and long jump.
Going 1-2-3 in six events and placing first in 11 of them, the women’s track team exemplified the results of their preparation for the Heps. The Red swept the top five spots of the mile run in impressive fashion. The five Red runners, senior Fiona Cundy, senior Dani Schaub, freshman Christine Curtis, freshman Aria Hemphill and sophomore Liza Truax, were able to dominate a field of 36 runners. Unmentioned victors were freshman Molly Glantz in the 500-meter, freshman Meghan Brown in the 1000-meter, senior Aeriel Emig in the 3000-meter, freshman Taylor Baird in the 60-meter hurdles, junior pole vaulter Natalie Gengel and dual victor Maria Matos who was victorious in the shotput and weight throw.
Including the exceptional performances of Roneker, there were 11 ECAC qualifying performances for the men’s side, all of which were from the jumping and field squads. The Red went 1-2-3 in high jump, led by the recovering senior Garrett Huyler with a jump of 2.14 m. The competition was so talented in long jump that senior Aaron Gadson placed fourth with an ECAC qualifying jump, following junior Duane Teixiera who placed first, 7.27 m, and second-place freshman Vince Formica with a jump of 7.10 m. Junior pole-vaulter Josh Kirkpatrick had an ECAC qualifying vault of 4.95 m. Besides Roneker’s exceptional measurements, freshman Bob Belden again showed his ability to lead the squad with two ECAC qualifying measurements: a second-place 16.02 m throw in shotput and a weight throw of 17.48 m which was good for fourth place. Other winners included junior Dale Taylor in the 300-meter and junior Ola Williams in the 60-meter. The Red relay teams performed well as they placed second in the 4×400 and third in the 4×800.
“We’re very prepared for the Heps … to blow away the competition next week. We have a very strong team all-together, including our jump team. We’re very excited and ready,” said triple jump victor sophomore Julian Remouns.