The AU men's and women's track teams completed a successful trip to Patriot League Indoor Championships this weekend, placing third and fifth, respectively, and setting league and school records along the way.
The Eagles kicked off their first day of competition on Saturday with a first-place finish in the men's 4 x 800-meter relay and a third-place finish by junior Conor Lanz in the men's 5,000-meter run. The relay proved to be an exciting finish, with AU junior Dustin Emrani coming from behind to outrun Navy's Paul Harris in the final lap, running the fastest split ever by an AU track athlete on a flat track. His efforts, combined with those of the first three legs (run by Alex Cuadana, Steve Hallinan and Brian McCabe) helped AU clock in at 7:35.99.
"Everything worked out perfectly; it was a great race," Emrani said. "I felt really good going into that last lap. I hadn't run that well since last spring, so it felt great to run like that and take care of business."
The women's team failed to defend their title in the women's 4 x 800, placing fourth.
AUcontinued its success on Sunday, with first-place finishes by Hallinan in the men's 3,000-meter and Emrani in the men's 800-meter. Hallinan finished the 3,000 in 8:21.24, edging out Lehigh's Rob Hampson and setting a meet record.
The women came out ahead as well, with senior Keira Carlstrom taking first in both the mile and 3,000-meter, defending her title in both races.
As a team, the Eagles finished identically to how they did in last year's competition.
"Last year, we came in with a lot of confidence and dominated a lot of the distance events," junior captain Dan Beardslee said. "This year, it was a little different because we have a lot of the younger guys just looking to improve and work their way up, so it was more of a learning experience."
While satisfied with their performance, the Eagles now look ahead to the next hurdle.
"We try not to focus on one competition; we really try to see the big picture," Emrani said. "I think everyone's going to be really ready for outdoors [this spring]. I think we're going to see some really good stuff, so it's looking really great"
