Degen and Vandenberg Win Events at Ohio State Tune Up

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State University Tune Up in preparation for next week's University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships.

Senior George Degen (Madison, Wis./West) ran a career-best time in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 8:22.89 to win the event. His time is now ninth in the nation. Freshman Ryan Auld (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) placed 15th in the distance race in a career-best 8:51.37.

Sophomore Owen Norley (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) placed ninth in the mile run in a career-best time of 4:19.18 while sophomore Curtis Watro (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) finished in a career-best 4:23.76 to place 13th.

Senior Thomas Vandenberg (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) continued to improve on his time in the 800-meter run, winning the event for the fifth time in as many attempts. This time he topped the finishers with a time of 1:53.48. Junior Marc-Daniel Julien (Skokie, Ill./Niles West) finished sixth in the same event in a time of 1:58.43.

Freshman Jonathan Perry (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque Academy) was 11th in the 400-meter dash with a career-best time of 52.21 seconds while freshman Tanguy Dauphin (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Cardinal Spellman) ran a career-best in the 200-meter dash in 24.77 and recorded a best time of 7.72 seconds in the preliminaries of the 60-meter dash.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Perry, Vandenberg, junior Jeff Chen (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Norley placed fifth in 3:23.26.

Sophomore Kyle Weaver (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay School) placed 10th in the pole vault, clearing 4.01 meters while freshman Jacob Schofel (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) tossed the weight throw a career-best 14.00 meters. Schofel also competed in the shot put, finishing 28th with a mark of 11.79 meters.

The UAA Championships start Saturday, February 28 and conclude Sunday, March 1 at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.