Tartans Run Away with Win at Home Invite

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team won its home Mini-Invite with 234 points against Allegheny College, Denison University, SUNY Fredonia and Waynesburg University. The Tartans won six field events and three running events while sweeping the shot put, discus throw and 800-meter run.

The Tartans ruled the throwing events once again as junior Nathan Cheek (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) won the hammer throw with a mark of 50.78m while junior Zachary Erra-Hernandez (Las Cruces, N.M./Onate) took second with a mark of 50.75m. In the shot put, Erra-Hernandez won with a season-best mark of 15.81m as sophomore Gino Pilato (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) placed second with a mark of 14.27m. Cheek followed with a third place mark of 14.06m and senior Patrick Robinson (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) was fourth with a career mark of 13.90m.

Erra-Hernandez then took the title spot in the discus throw with a mark of 44.27m with Pilato taking second place with a mark of 43.32m and Cheek finishing third with a mark of 42.47m.

Junior David Markowitz (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) won the javelin throw with a distance of 49.52m while freshman Paul Hamerski (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) was third with a throw of 46.49m.

Freshman Patrick Chang (Millbrae, Calif./Mills) took third place in the long jump with a distance of 5.85m with freshman Max Reinertsen (Esko, Minn./Esko) finishing fourth with a distance of 5.83m. Reinertsen later won the triple jump with a leap of 12.53m with Chang taking second with a mark of 11.84m.

The Tartans also did well in the pole vault with sophomore Mike McDermott (Seekonk, Mass./La Salle Academy) taking second, clearing 4.20m. Senior Daniel Cardenas Rivero (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) was third, clearing 3.90m with sophomore Thomas Doyle (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) placing fourth and freshman Victor Yan (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) placing fifth. Doyle cleared 3.60m as Yan cleared 3.15m. McDermott later won the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.87m.

Junior Kenneth Murphy (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) was fourth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:06.75 as sophomore Eamon Cullinane (Hampton, N.H./Winnacunnet) was fifth in 4:09.14.

Sophomore Thomas Vandenberg (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) led a sweep of the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 1:53.17. Sophomore Douglas O'Connell (Rye, N.Y./Fordham Prep) was second in a season-best time of 1:56.18 with freshman Marc-Daniel Julien (Skokie, Ill./Niles West) placing third in 1:58.34.

In the 400-meter hurdles, junior Mike Standish (Washington, Pa./Trinity) finished third in 57.41 before junior Josh Newby (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) won the 5,000-meter run in 15:13.32.

The 4x400-meter relay team of senior Ben Nealy (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J./Egg Harbor Twp.), Julien, O'Connell and Vandenberg finished the meet with a victory in a time of 3:21.88.

The team will host its final meet of the season next week on Saturday, April 6 starting at 10:00 a.m.