Last weekend, the Judges headed to New York City to compete at The Armory for the University Athletic Association (UAA) indoor track and field championships meet, hosted by New York University (NYU). After the two-day meet, the men’s team finished in fourth, while the women’s team finished in fifth, with both teams earning all-UAA honors.
On the men’s team, pole vaulter Breylen Ammen ’21 led the Judges with a first place finish and all-UAA honors at 4.43 meters. Ammen became the Judge’s first-ever UAA champion in pole vault with the win. Teammate Aaron Corin ’20 finished fourth with a height of 4.33 meters and Jack Allan ’20 finished fifth with a height of 4.13 meters.
Allan also earned an individual all-UAA honor in the long jump, placing third with a distance of 6.90 meters, a new personal record (PR) and his first indoor track honor.
Churchill Perry ’20 had a pair of podium finishes and all-UAA honors in the 200-meter dash and the triple jump. He finished third in the finals of the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.33 seconds after finishing fifth in the preliminary race. Perry also finished third in the triple jump with a distance of 13.72 meters.
Lorenzo Maddox ’20 finished eighth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 13.69 seconds after placing fourth in the preliminary race with a time of 7.07 seconds. Rookie Thomas Vandalovsky ’23 just missed a podium finish in the shot put, placing fourth with a throw of 13.91 meters.
The Judges made up one-third of the finals for the 60-meter hurdles. Allan placed fifth with a time of 8.49 seconds, Aaron Baublis ’21 placed seventh with a time of 8.69 seconds and Dion Morris-Evans ’22 placed eighth with a time of 8.75 seconds.
The 4×400-meter relay of Perry, Jamie O’Neil ’22, Aaron Portman ’22 and Morris-Evans also added more points to the Judges’ total with a fourth place finish with a time of 3:22.94.
The distance medley relay (DMR) team of Alec Rodgers ’20, O’Neil, Portman and Josh Lombardo ’21 in the 1200-meter leg, 400-meter leg, 800-meter leg and 1600-meter leg, respectively, placed seventh with a time of 10:32.78.
In the high jump, the Judges placed seventh and eighth. Morris-Evans placed seventh with a height of 1.85 meters and Allan was eighth at 1.80 meters.
Lombardo ran his third PR in three weeks in the mile, placing ninth with a time of 4:21.07, less a second outside of scoring.
On the women’s side, All-American Devin Hiltunen ’22 and DMR team of Andrea Bolduc ’21, Niamh Kenney and rookies Sydney D’Amaddio ’23 and Victoria Morrongiello ’23 led the Judges to their fifth place finish.
Bolduc started the race off for the Judges with the 1200-meter leg, helping the Judges to an early lead, before handing off to D’Amaddio for the 400-meter leg. D’Amaddio handed off to fellow rookie Morrongiello for the 800-meter leg, who handed it off to Kenney for the 1600-meter leg.
The DMR team from the University of Chicago held a commanding lead for most of the race with Kenney closing the gap to just one second, finishing with an overall time of 12:08.92. This is the third straight year the Judges have finished in the top two in the DMR, having won it for the past two seasons.
On the second day, All-American Devin Hiltunen ’22 earned a pair of all-UAA honors and PRs in the 200-meter and 400-meter dash. Hiltunen finished second in the 400-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash. This is her first two all-UAA honors.
In the 400-meter dash, she finished second in the finals with a time of 58.39 seconds, just 0.14 off the winning time. Hiltunen placed first in the preliminary race with a time 58.09 seconds, another PR for the All-American. In the 200-meter dash, she placed third in the finals with a time of 25.46, after finishing third in the preliminary race with a time of 25.27 seconds, lowering her PR by over half a second.
After running a five minute mile in the 1600-meter leg of the DMR, Kenney finished second in the 3000-meter race the next day with a time of 10:02.87, helping the Judges to their third all-UAA honor of the weekend. Kenney maintained a steady pace for most of the race with a 40-second split time. Her fastest splits came at the end of the race, running the final two laps in 36.54 and 34.26 seconds, respectively. Kenney is currently ranked 36th among all Division III runners.
Teammate Danielle Bertaux ’20 finished in fourth in the 3000-meter race after a kick in the second half of the race with a time of 10:07.33, lowering her PR by almost two seconds. Bertaux is now ranked 44th among Division III runners.
After running the 1200-meter leg of the DMR the night before, Bolduc placed fourth in the mile run with a time of 5:07.37, setting a new PR by almost three seconds.
Willa Moen ’20 placed seventh in the 60-meter hurdles with 9.34 seconds, a new PR for the senior, after placing sixth in the preliminary race. Moen also tied for eighth place in pole vault with a height of 3.23 meters. She also PR’ed in the high jump with a height of 1.5 meters, placing ninth, just out of scoring range.
In the final event of the meet, the 4×400-meter relay of Yahni Lapa ’23, Leinni Valdez ’21, D’Amaddio and Hiltunen placed fifth with a time of 4:02.50.
The Judges return to action this weekend at the Tufts Last Chance meet before the NCAA Division III Championships the following weekend.
Editor’s Note: Victoria Morrongiello is the deputy news editor of The Brandeis Hoot and a member of the women’s track and field team.
