Syracuse track and field sets 2 school records, 11 PRs at 2-meet weekend
Syracuse track and field set two school records and six personal bests in its two-meet weekend. Daily Orange File Photo
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Syracuse track and field experienced a two-day rush of record-setting runs in its pair of meets as the distance runners competed in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston and the sprinters took on the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson.
A sub-four-minute mile and two new school records were clocked in on Friday alone, while six personal bests were logged Saturday.
Drew Zundell began Friday in Boston with a 3:59.04 in the men’s mile, becoming the newest member of the Syracuse sub-four-minute mile club. Zundell is the third person from West Virginia to accomplish that feat for the Orange. Zundell crossed the line in 11th place.
Elijah Mallard broke his own men’s 400-meter record for the second time this season with a 46.23-second time, shaving off 0.3 of a second from the previous time. It’s Mallard’s fourth straight SU record and his third straight in the 400-meter event. Mallard ended the race in 12th.
Peter Walsdorf topped off Friday night by breaking the men’s 5,000-meter indoor record for the first time in two years, finishing with a time of 13:32.20 seconds to crush the old record by two seconds. Walsdorf also finished as the only Syracuse runner to sit on the podium with a third place performance.
Fellow 5,000-meter runners Ben Gabelmen and Assaf Harari followed close behind with personal best runs to place eighth and 10th, respectively.
The Orange faltered in the men’s and women’s 60-meter hurdles, an event that has been the team’s strong suit this season. All four runners — Jamir Brown, Taleea Buxton, Peyton Rollins and Tia Outlaw — were knocked out in the semifinal round. Brown came within 0.02 of a second of qualifying. Buxton ran a personal best of 8.27 seconds in the semis.
The personal best times kept rolling in on Saturday.
Indie Wallace-Persaud (24.07) and Nicea Jones (24.58) started the day with personal-bests in the women’s 200-meter. Both athletes also had PRs on Friday — Wallace-Persaud in the 60-meter dash at 7.41 and Jones in the 400-meter at 53.79. Sierra Joseph matched her record time in the 200 as well.
Emma Eastman finished the two-day endeavor with an all-time personal record of 16:02.83 seconds in the women’s 5000-meter, putting her in 25th place. Madeline Heintz followed Eastman, placing 43rd and crushing her personal-best time by 40 seconds with a 16:19.90 race.
The Orange have only one meet left before the ACC Championships in Boston. Next week, they will return to Cornell for the final time in the indoor season for the Marc Deneault Memorial Invitational.
