Two school records were broken over the past few weekends by the men’s and women’s track and field team, as well as personal records (PR) for much of the team. The team travelled to Medford, MA for the second week in a row to compete at the Tufts Cupid Invitational on Feb. 8.

On the men’s side, Jack Allan ’20 placed first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.46 seconds after finishing second in the preliminary race. Allan lowered the previous school record set in 2009 by one-tenth of a second. 

Rookie Casey Brackett ’23 had a PR in the mile with a time of 4:40.80, finishing 34th overall. Josh Lombardo ’21 finished in 11th with a time of 4:26.87. 

Lorenzo Maddox ’20 also PR’ed in the 60-meter dash, placing sixth with a time of 7.16 seconds. He finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.30 seconds.

Dion Morris-Evans ’22 finished fifth in the high jump with a height of 1.9 meters. The Brandeis ‘A’ relay of Aaron Portman ’22, rookie Dean Campbell ’23, Jamie O’Neil ’22 and Patrick Quinlan ’21 finished fourth in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:33.20.

In the field, Breylen Ammen ’21 and Aaron Corin ’20 finished fifth and sixth in pole vault with heights of 4.45 meter and 4.3 meters, respectively. Allan finished in 13th with a height of 3.85 meters, hitting another PR. 

On the women’s side, the 4×200-meter relay of Anna Touitou ’22, Sonali Anderson ’22, rookie Sydney D’Amaddio ’23 and All-American Devin Hiltunen ’22 placed second with a time of 1:47.30 and broke the previous school record by 0.31 seconds. This record is Anderson’s third and Hiltunen’s second school record. 

Andrea Bolduc ’21 finished fifth overall in the 1000-meter run with a time of 3:03.57 and a new PR. Natalie Hattan ’22 also hit a PR in the mile with a time of 5:19.11 and an eighth place finish. Rookie Bridget Pickard ’23 also hit a PR in the mile, finishing with a time of 5:19.11, placing 18th. 

Hiltunen also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.47 seconds. Rookie Yahni Lapa ’23 finished 11th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.13. Niamh Kenney ’21 finished fourth in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:08.79. Anderson also finished third in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.34 seconds. The 4×400-meter relay of Lapa, Leinni Valdez ’21, D’ Amaddio and Hiltunen finished second with a time of 4:07.46. 

On the weekend before the midterm recess and just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Judges again had a split squad at the 2020 Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational and the Gordon Kelly Invitational at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

At Boston University (BU), the Judges had the opportunity to compete against not only other schools in the area, but also professionals. Danielle Bertaux ’20 placed 36th place in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:09.24, hitting a PR and ninth among all Division III runners.

Bolduc had her second PR in two weeks, this time in the mile. She finished with a time of 5:10.05, placing 132 out of over 200 runners. Pickard also had back-to-back PR weekends, this time in the 1000-meter race with a time of 3:16.70 and placing 99th in the race. 

Hiltunen ran the 200-meter and 400-meter dash, PR-ing in both events. She finished the 200 in 26 seconds, and 400 in 59.54, breaking one minute for the first time. Touitou also PR’ed in the 200 with a time of 26.72 seconds and placing 179th. Lapa, running the 200 and 400, also PR’ed in both events with times of 27.87 and 1:01.26, respectively.

The 800-meter race also saw three PR’s. Rookie Victoria Morrongiello ’23 placed 172nd and ran to a PR with a time of 2:23.90. Mahala Lahvis ’21 finished 230th and PR’d with a time of 2:30.95. Taylor Kane ’22 placed 250th and PR’d with a time of 2:35.93.

On the men’s side, Maddox was the top performer for the Judges, placing 25th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.20 seconds. Campbell placed 161st out of over 230 competitors in the 200-meter dash, running a PR with a time of 23.24 seconds. O’Neil placed 179th in the 400-meter dash, also PR’ing with a time of 51.66 seconds.

Jacob Judd (GRAD) and Jacob Grant ’22 both PR’ed in the 800-meter run with times of 1:57.69 and 1:58.70, respectively. Judd placed 166th and Grant placed 189th out of almost 300 competitors.

All the milers at BU also hit PRs while Lombardo, Alec Rodgers ’20 and Dan Curley ’20 ran 4:21.89, 4:25.56 and 4:29.76, respectively. All three of them finished in the top 300 out of the almost 350 competitors. 

With the other half of the team competing at the Gordon Kelly Invitational at MIT, the Judges added even more PRs. On the men’s side, Brackett finished seventh in the 3000-meter, finishing with a time of 9:31.99 and a new PR. 

Morris-Evans finished first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.81 seconds and placed sixth in the high jump with a leap of 1.90 meters. Aaron Baublis ’21 finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.33 seconds. Rookie Armin Alirezaei ’23 finished 14th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.53 seconds and 12th in the 200-meter with a time of 24.50 seconds. 

Moen posted a pair of lifetime-bests in the 60-meter hurdles, with a time of 9.66 seconds, good for fourth place. She also jumped 4.82 meters in the long jump, placing eighth.

Holleran also hit two PR’s in the 60-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. She broke 10 seconds for the first time in the 60-meter hurdles, placing ninth with a time of 9.99 seconds. Holleran finished 10th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.84 seconds and another PR. 

The Judges will return to action this weekend for the UAA championships in New York City, hosted by New York University (NYU).

Editor’s Note: Victoria Morrongiello is the deputy news editor of The Hoot and a member of the women’s track and field team.