Young Team Shows Great Potential in Track and Field

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Author: Benna Gottfried

Members of the men’s and women’s Oxy Track and Field team participated in two different meets this past weekend. Coming off of a very successful cross country season, Galen Smith (junior) and Toby Lemon (senior) placed fifth and ninth respectively in the Men’s 3000 Steeplechase at the Cal/Nevada meet at Fresno State. They were joined at that meet by promising first-year runner Maddie Weissman who placed fourth in her heat in the Women’s 800. Also competing at Fresno were several men’s and women’s throwers and pole vaulters.

Simultaneously in Palo Alto, Alex Ramon (junior), last year’s SCIAC champion placed 13 in his section of the Men’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 9:12.85. Just recovering from being sick, Kevin Chaves (junior) had intended to run with Ramon at Stanford, but opted to withdraw from the race due to a calf injury that will keep him out indefinitely.

Although he is expected to perform quite well this season, Chaves has only participated in the 5000 at the Oxy Distance Carnival on March 16 where he placed first with a time of 14:37.8.

The distance team’s performance at the Distance Carnival demonstrated great potential for growth this season as many runners cut their times down. Ramon, in particular, finished the Men’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase with a provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Division III Championships and moved him into 9th on the school’s all-time top ten list. Following close behind Ramon were Lemon and Smith who finished with 9:45.32 and 9:54.07 times respectively.

With only three seniors on the team this season, Track and Field is working on building up its squad. “We have a lot of great potential on the team,” said Emily Daggett (senior). Along with Weissman, underclassmen with great potential include Ramon, Chris Kyles (junior), Denali Halsey (first-year), Karuna Batcha (first-year), Elissa Chandler (first-year), Sarah Fischer (sophomore), and Kera Bartlett (sophomore) who are all ranked in the top three for their events.

“The team is improving every week, which is a great sign,” said Interim Head Coach Robert Bartlett who is optimistic about where the team is headed. “The season has been going really well. I think they’ve been competing really hard.” Bartlett, who is originally from the UK and a former exchange student at Oxy, stepped up to coach the team after Former Coach Troy Engle left to coach the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Team earlier this year.

The March 17 SCIAC Top 4 Meet provided an opportunity for many of Oxy’s field eventers hurdlers and sprinters to perform. Women’s pole vaulter Bartlett with a 11′ 6″ vault recorded the Tigers’ third provisional qualifying mark. The vault was her collegiate best. Batcha produced a seasonal best performance of 16.15 in the 100 Meter hurdles which placed her at 10th on the school’s all-time list. Chandler who with a seasonal best time of 16.36 was following close behind. In her first ever 400 meter hurdles, Chandler also managed to finish with a time of 69.19 seconds which ranks her second in SCIAC this year.

This season, junior throwers Kyles, James Sabo, and Wills Mitchell (junior) have showed dramatic improvements. They have had the opportunity to train with Olympic Medal Winner Kate Schmidt who won two bronze medals in javelin in 1972 and 1976. In the men’s shot put, Kyles gave a strong performance including his seasonal best of 43′ 8.5″.The Tigers head to the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational next weekend. Next weekend’s meet is the last before the SCIAC Multi-Duals on April 14.

“I’m excited about where we’re going to be in the next few weeks,” Bartlett said.

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