A couple of strong individual performances highlighted a weekend of track and field for the AU men’s and women’s teams at the Navy Invitational March 24.
Both squads battled stiff competition in Annapolis, Md., as the men’s team competed against Navy, Colgate University, the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
The women’s team took on Navy, UMES, the University of Delaware, Towson University, Howard University and Rowan University.
Men place three in top five in 1,500-meter run
On the men’s side, AU produced its best team results in the 1,500-meter run with Josh Olsen, Ryan Williams and John Pope finishing in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. Olsen posted a personal-best time of 3:54.16 in the event, with Williams coming in at 3:54.92 and Pope at 3:58.24. Tom Woermer placed 10th in the run after completing the course in 4:06.94.
The Eagles received their strongest individual showing from Zach Wright. Wright, the only field competitor for the Eagles’ men’s team, placed second overall in the high jump with a final height of 1.99 meters.
Mark Allen, Constantine Matsakis and Matiss Batarags crossed the finish line in seventh, eighth and 13th for the Eagles in the 800-meter run.
James Manning and Jake Smyth rounded out the Eagles’ day by finishing 11th and 12th in the 400-meter dash.
The men placed fourth overall in the event, finishing with 34 points. Navy took home the team title with 240 points, outscoring second-place UMES by 90 points.
Tyburski runs to third-place finish
An exceptional performance from Ali Tyburski in the 1,500-meter run led the AU women’s team. Tyburski finished third out of 36 runners with a time of 4:44.88 to pick up six points for AU.
Octavia Rinehardt and Julia Sullivan posted solid times to register eighth and 16th place finishes, respectively, in the event.
The lone field event participator for the AU women, Alexa Bolden, broke a program record with a final jump of 4.73 meters to finish 13th. Meanwhile, Olivia Pennock notched the 10th fastest time in AU history with a time of 14.38 in the 100-meter dash.
The women placed seventh in the team standings, as the Midshipmen easily picked up the team crown once again. Navy finished with 241 points, 113 points ahead of Delaware.
AU will look to improve on its showing when it heads to College Park, Md., for the Maryland Invitational March 31.
sports@theeagleonline.com
