UTICA, N.Y.- The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's indoor track and field team delivered a strong showing today at the Utica Blue & Orange Invite.
The Engineers were led on the track by a pair of event wins, beginning with
Alexander Flynn's first-place finish in the invitational 400-meter dash, where he posted a time of 49.61 seconds.
Dominic Pena added another victory for RPI in the mile run, winning the event in 4:18.63, while
Nathaniel McKee placed third in the same race at 4:20.68. Joe Nuzzo and
Evan Morrow also contributed solid efforts in the mile, finishing sixth and seventh with times of 4:24.14 and 4:24.22, respectively.
RPI's distance contingent was especially strong in the 3000 meters. In the invitational section,
Evan Lacey led the Engineers with a runner-up performance, stopping the clock at 8:15.86, followed closely by
Danny Gall in fourth at 8:16.13.
Jack Loughery placed fifth in 8:17.03,
Jack Czarnecki finished sixth in 8:20.30, and
Colin Goldschmidt rounded out the top eight in eighth place with a time of 8:29.15.
Tyler Husar added a fifth-place finish in the open section of the 3000 meters, clocking 9:07.62. In the 800-meter run,
Tevin McLaren secured a podium finish for the Engineers with a third-place effort in 1:58.14.
In the sprint events,
Ronen Stewart recorded a third-place finish in the invitational 200-meter dash with a time of 22.26, while
Alexander Flynn followed with a sixth-place showing in 22.37.
Francis Grasso competed in both sprint distances, placing seventh in the 60-meter dash in 7.23 seconds and fourth in the open 200 meters at 22.92.
Jack Gips and Max Connolly posted fourth- and seventh-place finishes in the open 400 meters with times of 53.76 and 54.28, respectively, while
Caden Caron finished eighth in the invitational 400 meters in 51.24.
Cortez Garrett placed seventh in the 60-meter hurdles as well, crossing the line in 8.54 seconds.
The Engineers also turned in a strong relay performance, as the RPI "A" squad of
Alexander Flynn,
Francis Grasso, Dominic Pena, and
Ronen Stewart finished second in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:31.62.
RPI's field event group added multiple top finishes to the overall performance.
Oliver Herrick captured first place in the triple jump with a mark of 13.89 meters and followed with a fourth-place finish in the long jump at 6.58 meters, while
Ervin Owusu placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 6.55 meters. In the high jump,
Connor Cruz finished third in the invitational section by clearing 1.88 meters, and
Arthur Hrycak placed second in the open competition at 1.82 meters.
The pole vault saw
Moss Dengler finish sixth in the invitational field at 4.63 meters, with
Shawn Keenan close behind in eighth after clearing 4.48 meters.
Rounding out the meet, RPI competed in the heptathlon, where
Dillen Owusu earned a runner-up finish with a total of 4,504 points, and
Leo Lomangino followed in fourth place with 4,452 points.
RPI returns to Utica next Saturday for the Utica Fast Trax Invite.
