On January 24th and 25th, the Mammoths travelled to Ithaca, New York to compete at the Upstate Challenge hosted by Cornell University. With most of the team competing, it was a very fun meet with a lot of great energy! Our multi athletes got us started with competition on Friday, and the rest of the team competed on Saturday.
Men
Our heptathletes started off the two-day heptathlon on Friday with strong performances all around, as Troy Colleran '22 set a personal best in the 60 meter dash, and Jack Trent '23 set personal bests in the long jump and shot put. On day two, Max Spelke '23 set personal bests in the 60 hurdles and pole vault, and Jack Trent added a personal best in the pole vault. Jack Dufton '20 dominated the heptathlon concluding 1,000, winning the race by a significant margin.
Once the points were totaled, the results showed that Troy improved his personal best in the event by over 200 points to score 4,962 points, a huge improvement! Troy currently is ranked third in Division 3 for this event! In their first heptathlons ever, Jack Trent and Max Spelke competed well! Jack Dufton came close to his personal best in the heptathlon and brings great momentum to his season.
In the mile, Spencer Ferguson-Dryden '20 ran an excellent race to run a personal best time of 4:16, which currently ranks him sixth in Division 3. Behind him, Braxton Schuldt '21 ran a personal best with a time of 4:23 and Ajay Sarathy '21 ran a strong race. Alfred Kibowen '23 dominated the third heat of the mile after a seeding mix up!
In the long sprints events, Alex Mangiafico '20 ran a personal best in 500 and Theo Bates '20 competed well in his first 500 ever. Ryan Prenosil '21 placed third in a competitive 400 race and ran a time of 49.75, which ranks him tenth in Division 3. Kyland Smith '21 nearly broke his personal best in the indoor 400, and Ellis Phillips-Galucci '23 ran a great race. Mayowa Tinubu '20 competed well in his first 400 of his college career and Matt Gelin '23 ran a nice race in the same heat as Mayowa.
In the 800, firstyears Braedon Fiume and Will Spurell both dipped under the two-minute barrier, and Teddy Lane '20 and Andrew Swenson '21 competed well. Aydin Williams '23 won his heat of the 1,000. In the 3,000 , Owen Daily '22, Will Snead '23 and Spencer Davis '22 all competed well.
In the short sprints, Ben Wadsworth '22 ran a nice 200, and Marshall Richardson '22 ran a personal best in the 60 meter dash! Yonas Shiferaw '20 also ran another great 60 meter hurdles race.
In the field, Chris Gong '23 jumped not far off his personal best set last weekend, and Kelechi Eziri '23 enjoyed a huge performance in the triple jump, which set a new school record and currently ranks twentieth in the Division 3. In the shot put, Jack Renda '23 set a personal best!
To conclude the meet, we entered three 4x400 relays to have some fun! Our "A" team placed second, as the team of Kyland Smith, Will Spurrell, Ellis Phillips-Galucci and Alex Mangiafico all ran hard and for each other. We also had "B" and "C" teams in the next heat, and the "C" team composed of mid-distance runners Alfred Kibowen, Bobby Innes-Gold, Teddy Lane and Andrew Swenson just edged out the "B" team of Ben Wadsworth, Braedon Fiume, Theo Bates and Chris Chukwura '22, who ran his first race ever as a Mammoth!
Women
On Friday, pentathletes Ella Rossa '21 and Annelise Romero '22 got the Mammoths started. Annelise set a new personal best in the pentathlon by almost two hundred points! Along the way, she set personal bests in the 60 hurdles and high jump. Ella Rossa competed in her first pentathlon ever, but has experience in the multi events as she competed in the heptathlon last spring. Ella set personal bests in the high jump, shot put, and 800!
On Saturday, Ella returned to the track and won the 60 meter hurdles in a time of 8.88 seconds, which is a personal best for her, along with setting a new school record, and her time ranks her second in Division 3! Lauren Lamb '21 also ran two great races in both the preliminary and final rounds of the 60 hurdles.
In the mile, Sarah Gayer '21 and Sophie Wolmer '23 both ran personal bests! With their times of 5:05 and 5:07, they are ranked sixth and eleventh, respectively, nationally in Division 3 in the mile. Maggie Drew '22 ran a personal best of 5:30, and Mary Kate McGranahan '23, Eline Laurent '22 and Mia Rahn '23 all competed well.
In the long sprints, Ava Tillman '23 and Grace Haase '21 both ran the 500, and they both competed well in their first time running the rarely run event. In the 400, Anna Madden '22, Sophia Friedman '21, Katie Lingen '22 and Susannah Auderset '23 all ran well and showed our team's strength in the event.
In the short sprints, Sam Tichelaar '22 and Amerley Lokko '23 both set personal bests in the 60 meter dash and indoor 200! Karis Lee '23 ran a nice race in the 60, and Isabel Park '20 ran well in the 200 too.
In the 800, Rachel Ruderman '21 ran a well-executed race and set a new personal best! Rachel got the 800 PR train going, and in the next heat Jordan Bailey-Rhodeman '21 also set a personal best in the 800! Ithaca native Sylvia Frank '20 ran another strong race in the 800, and closed with a speedy last lap.
In the field, Caroline Ferguson-Dryden '20 and Stephanie Zovich '23 both competed well in the shot put and weight throw and weren't far off their personal bests in both events. Nolani Kennedy-White '23 made her Mammoth debut in the shot put!
Kristin Ratliff '20 won the women's 3,000 with a fast finish on her last lap, closing in 36 seconds! Olivia Polischeck '21 ran a smart race to place second, and Maya Bhandari ran the 3,000 for the first time and raced well.
The 4x800 relay of Sophie Wolmer, Rachel Ruderman, Maggie Drew and Sarah Gayer all returned to the track for their second race of the day and ran well. The meet ended with the 4x400, where we entered two relay teams. The "B" team of Isabelle Lobo '22, Jordan Bailey-Rhodeman, Ava Tillman and Katie Lingen just edged out our "A" team, and Katie ran a stellar anchor leg with a split of 59.85 seconds! The "A" team of Anna Madden, Sam Tichelaar, Susannah Auderset and Sophia Friedman all competed hard and ran well.
We saw a few more Mammoths earn qualifying marks for the Division III New England Championships!
It was great to have Mammoth fans out there cheering us on at Cornell! We really appreciate your support. Many thanks again to Dan Friedman P'21 for taking these wonderful pictures.
NEXT UP for the Mammoths are the Open New England Championships (NEICAAA), which will be held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, and the Branwen Smith-King Invitational, hosted by Tufts University.