Brandeis Track and Field hosted the annual Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational Meet in Gosman gym on Saturday, Jan. 13. In combined team scores, both the men’s and women’s teams earned second place behind the visiting University of Southern Maine (USM) teams.
In the first scored meet of the 2018 season, Brandeis men’s track and field racked in a total of 120 points, just 11 behind USM’s 131 points. On the women’s side, the Brandeis team saw a greater gap between their score and the victors, earning 99.5 points to USM’s 152 points. The men’s team beat out six other competing teams, including neighboring Bentley University, while the women beat out five other competing teams.
The Brandeis teams both scored a significant chunk of points in the mile contest. The seniors on the men’s team represented well, stealing the first four spots of the event. Led by senior captain Ryan Stender ’18, three other seniors followed with Mitchell Hutton ’18 taking second, Max Whitmore ’18 taking third and Liam Garvey ’18 earning his personal best time of 4:31.34 at fourth.
The women saw even greater success in the mile run, securing the top five spots of the heat. Julia Bryson ’19 led the pack with a 5:24.06 run, earning the top spot by over nine seconds. Behind Bryson, rookie Andrea Bolduc ’21 barely edged ahead of senior captain Kyra Shreeve ’18 to earn the second place finish. Behind Shreeve, Meghan Barry ’19 and Rose Monahan ’19 took fourth and fifth, respectively.
Doyin Ogundiran’s ’19 first place performance in the women’s 800 meter run was the most impressive result from a Brandeis competitor. Her time 2:20.14 led to her receipt of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Athlete of the Week title. Her impeccable time has her placed at the top spot in Division III for the 800 meter event.
The Reggie Poyau Invitational marked the beginning of the indoor track season for the Brandeis Judges. Their next meet will be at the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational, held at Harvard University on Sunday, Jan. 21. The meet is a non-scoring event, and last year Irie Gourde ’17 secured the only event win for both the men and the women. Gourde will return to compete as a graduate student for the 2018 season.
