Individual Runners Shine Despite Mediocre Track Finish

Ireland+Gibson+of+NYU%E2%80%99s+Track+and+Field+team+ran+a+new+800m+record+for+NYU.

via gonyuathletics.com

Ireland Gibson of NYU’s Track and Field team ran a new 800m record for NYU.

Rachel Ruecker, Deputy Sports Editor

After hosting last week’s UAA Championships, the NYU track and field teams crossed the harbor to Staten Island to participate in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championships this weekend. Though the men’s and women’s teams only clocked in at 28th and 27th, respectively, each crew displayed some strong individual efforts during the weekend.

Senior Daniel Rieger competed in the men’s mile race and finished with a 12th-place time of 4:21.39. Though he was disappointed with his outing, Rieger continues to feel hopeful moving forward as the team gets stronger.

“I didn’t run my fastest time but I closed hard,” Rieger said. “Things are looking good for outdoor season and we expect to run some fast times.”

Meanwhile, the NYU women won a new university record for sophomore Ireland Gibson as she came in fourth place in the 800-meter with a blistering time of 2:16.09. Senior captain Sarah Sisk also competed in the race and finished eighth, with a new personal-best time just under two seconds behind Gibson’s leading mark.

Gibson also competed alongside senior Drew Washington, senior Lydia Guo and freshman Danielle Murray in the 4×400-meter relay. The squad came in sixth, with a solid time of 3:57.59. In other women’s action, senior Becky Turlip also competed, running to a seventh place finish in the mile.

Meanwhile, part of the men’s team spent its time on Friday in Medford, Massachusetts competing in the Tufts Final Qualifying meet at Tufts University.

Solid showings came from the 4x400m relay team composed of last week’s UAA Most Outstanding Runner Matthew Powers, sophomore Malcolm Montilus, junior Curtis Mann and junior Budd Brown that came in second. Brown also impressed individually, clocking in at third in the 400 meter. Other competitors included junior Caleb Su who came in fifth in the 60-meter race, junior Nick Karam who came in fourth in the mile and senior Max Avila who came in eleventh in the 800-meter race.

The next competition for a few of the Violets will be this week in Grinnell, Iowa as they participate in the NCAA DIII National Indoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday. The outdoor season then kicks off afterwards, beginning with the Spring Break Meet on March 17 and 18 down in warmer weather at the University of South Florida.

A version of this article appeared in the March 7 print edition. Email Rachel Ruecker at [email protected].