Tartans Finish Second After Final Day of UAA Championships

(WALTHAM, Mass.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team scored 102 points to take second place at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Team Championship as competition closed on Saturday, March 1.  The 2014 championships were held on the campus of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The Tartans claimed two individual UAA titles on Saturday.  Senior Zachary Erra-Hernandez (Las Cruces, N.M./Onate) became a three-time UAA Champion in the shot put, winning the event with a mark of 16.13 meters. Junior Gino Pilato (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) and senior Nathan Cheek (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) also scored points for the Tartans in the shot put taking fourth and fifth place, respectively, with throws of 14.14 meters and 14.01 meters.

Junior Thomas Vandenberg (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) was the other Tartan to record a UAA title on Saturday when broke his own school record in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.32.

In the 55-meter dash, freshman Andrew Chang (Fairfax, Va. / W.T. Woodson) crossed the line with a time of 6.62 seconds to claim third place.  Chang also grabbed a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.02 seconds to get a second All-UAA honor.

Scoring points for the Tartans in the one mile run, freshman Owen Norley (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) stopped the clock in a tight pack with a time of 4:20.78 to record a fifth-place finish.  Senior Kenneth Murphy (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) placed fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:40.74.

Grabbing a fourth and fifth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles, sophomore Ben Neiman (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Earl L. Vandermeulen) and freshman Don Boyer (Dover Foxcroft, Maine/Foxcroft Academy) crossed the line with a time of 8.12 and 8.16, respectively.

Sophomore Marc-Daniel Julien (Skokie, Ill./Niles West), senior Jerome Reano (Albuquerque, N.M./Saint Pius X), Norley, and Vandenberg took fourth in the 4x400 in a time of 3:27.75.

Freshman Kyle Weaver (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay School) also earned points for the Tartans with a fourth-place finish in the pole vault, clearing 4.55 meters. Fellow freshman Matthew Seifu (Silver Spring, Md./Sidwell Friends) jumped to a distance of 6.37 meters in the long jump to claim fourth-place honors.

Next up for a select few will be the NCAA Championships on March 14-15 at Nebraska Wesleyan College in Lincoln, Neb. Vandenberg should get an invite as his time in the 800-meter run is currently third in the nation.