TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's track & field team turned in a productive weekend at the annual RPI Under the Lights Meet at Harkness Field, stacking up multiple event victories and a deep set of top-eight finishes across the sprints, hurdles, distance events, field events, and throws.
RPI's speed group delivered immediate points in the 100-meter dash, led by
Ronen Stewart's runner-up finish in 11.29 seconds, while
Jack Catelotti added a fifth-place showing (11.44) and Gabe Sicurella placed seventh (11.50). The Engineers carried that momentum into the 200-meter dash (seeded), where Stewart again earned second (21.35),
Donovan Myrick followed in fifth (21.71), and Alex Flynn placed sixth (21.73). In the 400 meters, Myrick delivered another podium result with a second-place effort of 48.92, and
Caden Caron contributed a seventh-place finish in 49.78.
In the middle distances, RPI owned the top of the 800 meters as
Jack Czarnecki won the event in 1:55.17, with Dominic Pena close behind in second at 1:55.34. Pena also produced a runner-up performance in the seeded 1500 meters, crossing in 3:52.18, while the unseeded section saw
Ben Molino place fourth (4:14.83) and
Murray Copps take fifth (4:15.80) to add additional top-five finishes for the Engineers.
The hurdles group also turned in scoring performances, highlighted by Flynn's third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (59.22) and
John Bellini's sixth-place result (1:02.32). RPI added more points in the 3000-meter steeplechase, where
Michael Harkins placed second in 9:47.29 and
Alton Francisco finished sixth in 10:19.73. On the relay side, the Engineers closed out a strong sprint weekend by winning the 4x100-meter relay in 41.50 seconds, with Cam Caso, Myrick, Flynn, and Stewart combining for the victory.
In the field events, RPI swept the top of the men's high jump as
Connor Cruz and
Calvin Chang both cleared 1.90 meters to tie for first.
Moss Dengler added an event win of his own in the pole vault, capturing first with a clearance of 4.93 meters.
The Engineers were equally sharp in the throwing events. In the hammer throw,
Max Fetah led the way with a runner-up mark of 49.74 meters, while
Colby Grove placed fifth (47.87),
Eric Mulqueen finished sixth (47.62), and
Paul Sussman took seventh (46.53) to give RPI four top-seven performances in the event. RPI also claimed the javelin title as
Tristan Mangin won with a throw of 60.31 meters, with
Ryan Stuck adding a fourth-place result (47.05),
Lucas Heydt placing sixth (45.51), and Cameron Bailey rounding out the top eight in eighth (42.82).
RPI's multi-event athletes capped the meet with more podium results in the decathlon, where
Leo Lomangino finished third with 5,469 points,
Dillen Owusu placed fourth (5,422), and Jack Currie added a fifth-place finish (5,087).
