With the winter break over and their lineups complete, the Brandeis Mens and Womens Track teams came out flying at the Reggie Poyau Invitational, putting on a show at their only home meet of the year. The women won 11 events and scored 187 points to finish in first place, well ahead of second place Bowdoin. This was a bit of retribution for the womens team, which competed against Bowdoin with a depleted lineup last week and was handed a lopsided loss.
The mens team won 6 events, scoring 147 points, and finished in second place, trailing only Bowdoin. The other teams competing were Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Bridgewater State College, UMass Dartmouth, Gordon, Emmanuel, Smith (women only), and Southern Maine (men only).
I know we have a good team. It was one of my best recruiting years, last year, said Coach Mark Reytblat. Both teams showed spectacular consistency across the board, placing athletes in the top three of almost every event. David Weinstein 08 led the way for the men, winning the 200 Meters and placing second in the 55 Meter Dash. Geoff Fauchet 08 won the 600, and Ryan Parker '06 continued his dominance in the 1000, with a winning time of 2:37.21. The Judges also won both the 4×400 and the 4×800 relays.
On the womens side, Anat Benun 09 put on the top performance of the meet, winning the Triple Jump with a leap of 38 feet, 1.25 inches. That distance provisionally qualifies Benun to participate in the NCAA national meet, and is the longest jump in Division III this season. Benun, a Wien scholarship recipient that hails from Haifa, Israel, also won the High Jump, clearing 5 feet, 1.75 inches. Other field event winners for the women included Jane Farrell 06, who soared over 11 feet in the Pole Vault, and Ali Sax 09, who won the Long Jump with a distance of 15 feet, 1.25 inches.
The Lady Judges were also impressive on the track, with Sandra Canuto 08 winning the 55 Meter Dash and the 200 Meters, Olivia Alford 08 taking the 400 Meters, and Camille Stevens-Rumann 07 capturing the Mile.
However, even amongst all the victories, Reytblat knows that there is more work and bigger tests ahead of the Judges. Im not gearing them to run fast now, he said. We have to be in shape at the end of February, beginning of March. Our main goal is to do well at the UAA.
He also thinks that there is a great potential for some more Brandeis athletes to join Benun at the nationals. He said that during every single meet you want to have somebody qualify for the nationals, and he mentioned that he expects Farrell make the trip, and also gave the mens 4×400 team an outside shot at qualifying.
Reytblat spoke of the possibility of some fast times on BUs banked track. Its a great meet at BU;
its a meet where teams come from everywhere, Texas, California. Why? BU has one of the fastest tracks in the country. He expects most of the Judges to run faster than they ran last week. In closing, Reytblat loaded praise onto his team. We have the best team of the last five or six years, he said. Im expecting a lot. Its a really good team.
