Men’s Track and Field Continues to Break Records at CMU Quad Meet

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team continued to break records and set career-bests as they competed in the CMU Quad Meet on Saturday afternoon.  The Tartans placed second as a team with 182 points as Penn State Behrend won the Quad scoring 210 points.

Senior David Markowitz (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) started off the day for the Tartans as he took the title in the javelin throw.  Markowitz threw a career-best toss of 52.09 meters, two meters past his previous best.

Fellow senior thrower, Zachary Erra-Hernandez (Las Cruces, N.M./Onate), broke the school record in the hammer throw with a new career-best toss for the second week in a row.  Erra-Hernandez released a monster throw of 54.53 meters.  He broke the school record of 53.90 meters which he set himself last weekend at the CMU Mini Invitational. 

The Tartans had a one, two, three finish in the hammer. Led by Erra-Hernandez, senior Nathan Cheek (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) threw 51.59 meters for second-place and junior Gino Pilato (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) tossed 39.98 for third.

Erra-Hernandez also won the shot put with a toss of 15.80 meters and the discus with a toss of 44.38 meters.  Cheek released the discus 43.92 meters for second-place.

In the pole vault, freshman Kyle Weaver (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay School) vaulted over the bar at 3.95 meters on his first attempt for second-place and sophomore Victor Yan (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) went over the bar 3.95 also, but on a later attempt, for third.

A trio of Tartans swept the 3,000-meter run.  Freshman Ryan Archer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Vincentian Academy) took the title with a time of 8:59.70.  Second-place was claimed by freshman Grant Langevin with a time of 9:00.44 and third by junior George Degen (Madison, Wis./West) with a time of 9:04.40.

The Tartans had a first and third place finish in the 3,000 meter steeple chase.  Freshman Curtis Watro (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) crossed the finish line for first-place with a time of 10:04.40 and sophomore Brian Bollens (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) finished the race in 10:35.13 for third.

In the 1,500-meter run, freshman Owen Norley (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) ran 4:03.02 to take first-place and finishing just behind him with a time of 4:06.74, sophomore Marc-Daniel Julien (Skokie, Ill./Niles West) finished third.

A trio of second place finishes came from freshman Andrew Chang (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.79, freshman Nathan Willis (Philadelphia, Pa./Friends' Central School) in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.43, and senior Mike Standish (Washington, Pa./Trinity) in the 400-meter hurdles crossing the line with a time of 57.57.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Julien, Standish, Willis and Norley took first-place with a time of 3:26.43.

The Tartans will be competing at different events next weekend April 12.  Part of the team will be travelling to the Bucknell University Distance Carnival and the other members of the squad will compete in the Bennie Benson Memorial Invitational at Robert Morris University.