Tartans Win Mini Invitational Sweeping Two Throws Events
(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team had record-setting performances at Gesling Stadium on Friday and Saturday as they took the title at the Carnegie Mellon Mini Invitational.
The meet kicked off with a new school record set by senior Zachary Erra-Hernandez (Las Cruces, N.M./Onate) in the hammer throw as he finished second. With a toss of 53.90 meters, Erra-Hernandez surpassed the previous school record of 52.70 meters set by Tom Matta in 2006. His new career-best throw also puts him fifth in the nation.
The Tartans took one, two and three in the men's shot put and discus. Erra-Hernandez, junior Gino Pilato (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) and senior Nathan Cheek (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) tossed the 16-pound ball 15.75 meters, 13.43 meters and 13.38 meters, respectively in the shot put. In the discus, Cheek took the title with a toss of 42.56 meters, Pilato threw 42.37, and Erra-Hernandez rounded out the sweep with a throw of 42.02.
Also in the throws, senior David Markowitz (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) grabbed a third-place finish in the javelin throw. With a third-place finish in the event, Markowitz threw 50.09 meters. Also scoring points in the javelin for the Tartans, sophomore Paul Hamerski (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) tossed the spear 49.55 meters.
With another strong performance in the pole vault, freshman Kyle Weaver (Wellsville, N.Y./Wellsville) jumped 4.20 meters and grabbed a first-place finish for the Tartans.
Junior Elliot Watson (Lebanon, Ohio/Miami Valley School) finished third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He crossed the finish line with a time of 10:04.88. Another third-place finish came from a 6.32 meter long jump from freshman Matthew Seifu (Silver Spring, Md./Sidwell Friends).
Freshman Owen Norley stopped the clock at 4:03.09 in the 1,500-meter run to add more points to the team score for the Tartans and senior Mike Standish (Washington, Pa./Trinity) grabbed a third-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.39.
In the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Ben Neiman finished second with a time of 57.53 to continue to build a lead for the Tartans.
To close out the meet, the 4x400-meter relay team of senior Jerome Reano (Albuquerque, N.M./Saint Pius X), sophomore Marc Daniel-Julien (Skokie, Ill./Niles West), Norley, and junior Thomas Vandenberg (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) won the race in 3:25.97.
The Tartans next competition will be taking place at Gesling Stadium on April 5.
