Men’s Basketball

After heading to Bloomington, Ill., to face Illinois Wesleyan University this upcoming Saturday, the Bears will be off until Dec. 30, when they will meet up and travel to Elmhurst, Ill., to take on Elmhurst College. They will come back to Wash. U. on Jan. 7 of the new year to take on conference rival University of Chicago in a match that begins University Athletic Association play for the Bears. Wash. U. will be on the road on the final weekend of break, traveling to Cleveland on Jan. 13 and Pittsburgh on Jan. 15 to face Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University, respectively.

Women’s Basketball

The Bears will take on familiar rival Webster University on Saturday and will compete in Waverly, Iowa, on Dec. 29-30 in the Wartburg Holiday Tournament (hosted by Wartburg College), but their marquee matchup over break will be the one against Chicago on Jan. 7 at the Washington University Field House. Chicago, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, got the best of the Bears in both regular season matchups—snapping a 40-game home win streak on Senior Day last year—before Wash. U. got revenge in the regional final round of the NCAA tournament. The game will be the biggest test of the season to date for the Bears, who will also close out their break with trips to CMU and Case Western.

Swimming and Diving

The swimming and diving teams will take their yearly winter break trip to Bradenton, Fla., for a team training and bonding session, before coming back to the Midwest in the week before the spring semester starts. Only the men’s team will go to Crawfordsville, Ind., to face Wabash College on Jan. 11, before both squads have their only home meet of the season. The Washington University Invitational will take place on Jan. 13-14 and will bring in teams from around the area and region.

Track and Field

With one meet already on the books, the track and field teams will be training on their own over break. They will head back to the site of their first meet—Bloomington, Ill.—on Jan. 14, where they will take part in the Illinois Wesleyan Double Dual Meet.

While official scoring did not take place at the meet, a number of Bears on both the men’s and women’s teams put up quality performances. The men’s side posted seven individual event winners while the women’s side posted five.

In addition to the 4-x-400 meter relay, which placed in first by 1.48 seconds, six different members of the men’s team won one event each. Among these performances was senior Tyler Jackson’s time of 7.73 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles, which met the provisional qualifying time.

“Posting a 7.73 in December is exciting, but it’s only the beginning. That will not stay at the top of the list for long. I have a lot I can and need to do in order to drop my time,” Jackson said.

Two other Bears put up winning times in a pair of track events. Junior Ryan Doll took the 200-meter dash in 23.21 seconds, while sophomore Arthur Townsend won the 300-meter dash with a mark of 36.48 seconds.

The men’s side also put up winners in three field events. Freshman Troy Makous excelled in his Wash. U. debut with a winning mark of 4.27 meters in the pole vault, junior Tom Arnold’s 12.97 meters in the shot put nudged out fellow Bears Ian Montague (12.76 meters) and Zach Lonneman (12.58 meters), and senior Justin Pieper took the high jump at 1.95 meters.

“The team was really excited for the early meet this year. It gave us a stronger sense of direction for our fall training and now we have a concrete point to compare our fall seasons with our return after break,” Jackson said. “I know I had been looking forward to the meet all year, and especially after Thanksgiving break. It was a very welcome change of pace.”

The women’s team’s five victories were highlighted by the efforts of sophomore Jasmine Williams, who won both the long jump and the high jump for the Bears. Her mark of 1.65 meters in the high jump was good for a provisional qualifying time, and her mark of 5.02 meters in the long jump won the event by .03 meters.

“I was hoping I would do well but in no way did I expect to clear the provisional height anytime soon,” Williams said. “I guess I was just feeling really springy and excited to be jumping competitively again.”

Sophomore Anna Etherington also met a provisional mark, as her 3.35 meters in the pole vault gave her the win. Sophomore Shannon Howell won the women’s 55-meter hurdles in 8.79, and junior Anne Diaz-Arrastia took the triple jump to round out the women’s winners.

Despite no team scores, both squads came out of the meet with a positive attitude and felt that it was a good way to get things started before meets begin on a more regular basis in January.

“Eventually most of us liked the fact that our first meet was before winter break because it gave us a chance to see that our fall training has paid off rather than having to come back after winter break, where we sometimes don’t train as hard, and [are] slightly disappointed with our first meet,” Williams said.

The track and field teams will compete again at Illinois Wesleyan in their next meet, the Illinois Wesleyan Double Dual Meet on Jan. 14.

Genevieve Hay | Student Life

The Washington University Men’s cross country team takes off in last Saturday’s meet. The men finished in second place and took three of the top ten places, including senior Michael Burnstein’s (2444) sixth-place finish.

“It went great,” head coach Jeff Stiles said of the meet. “It may be the best opening meet, if you take into account both sides, that we’ve potentially ever had.”

The meet, hosted by Wash. U. in Forest Park, was the first chance at competition for many runners since last November. But for some members of the teams, the opening meet was a continuation of a cycle of training and meets that hasn’t stopped since their arrival here at Wash. U.

Multiple members of the cross country teams also run in the winter and spring track seasons, and some even competed in multiple events at the NCAA Division III 2011 Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

“When nationals are over for track, we start building back up and focusing more on the distance, the hills, the longer runs,” senior Liz Phillips said.

For some athletes, the events that are run in the spring are very similar to the ones run in the fall, in that they are pure distance events. Senior Michael Burnstein, for instance, finished third overall in the 10,000-meter run and 19th overall in the 5,000-meter run at nationals, helping the men’s team finish fourth overall at the event for its highest-ever finish.

Burnstein, who placed sixth overall and second on the team in Saturday’s 6K race, noted a big difference in the mindsets of the two seasons.

“The actual training is very similar, but as far as mentality they’re pretty different,” Burnstein, last year’s University Athletic Association individual cross country champion, said. “Track kind of feels more individual, where[as] in cross country you know your time directly affects your team’s place.”

He added that he preferred the fall season to the spring. “I’ve always preferred cross [country], I think. Aesthetically I like racing on cross country courses more, because there’s more variation. Every week there’s a different course…I just really value that it’s more of a team sport and you get much closer to your teammates.”

For other athletes, such as Phillips, the fall presents a very different experience from the spring. Phillips, who won Saturday’s 4K race, placed sixth overall in both the 800- and 1,500-meter runs in the national meet.

Facing two types of events very different from one another, Phillips embraces the differences in the seasons for her. She echoed Burnstein’s assessment of the seasons’ mentalities, but acknowledged that it was impossible for her to pick which she enjoys more.

“I think middle distance is a ton of fun and just kicking that last 200 meters of a race is really fun, really exhilarating,” Phillips said. “But at the same time cross country is longer workouts, harder workouts, [and] it’s more team-centered.”

These runners, however, came to Wash. U. knowing they would be working year-round. Stiles, who has served as the cross country coach in 2001, took over the track and field head coaching reins before the 2008-09 school year.

A former year-round runner himself at North Central College, Stiles enjoys working with both of the squads.

“It’s more challenging to do two sports, but I think it’s also fun and exciting. You’re dealing with totally different dynamics of people and personality requirements,” Stiles said, referring to the differences between sprinters and distance runners.

And even though the events can vary drastically between seasons, all athletes know it’s important to train throughout the year, and Stiles believes his teams are no exception.

“They totally complement one another,” Stiles said of track and cross country. “All the best athletes in the world train year-round. You’re just accomplishing different things in different phases.”

The cross country teams are off this weekend and will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 16, for the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cross Country Challenge.

The men’s and women’s teams traveled to Atlanta, Ga. on Friday and Saturday for the 2011 UAA Outdoor Championships, and the men’s team won its 14th conference title in the program’s history. The women’s team took second, just behind Emory University.

“It actually means a lot just to know that you were a part of something that was continually getting better and actually have some hardware to show for it,” senior Ben Harmon said.

The men’s championship adds to a superb year for the program, as 2010-2011 marks the first academic year in which the men’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field teams all captured conference titles.

“These three years have been an amazing stretch. The team built itself from the ground up, and I have nothing but respect for everything our guys and girls have done together,” junior Dan Davis said.

Davis led the way for the men’s team, with a first-place time of 14.64 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles and first-place finishes in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. All three times, along with his second-place 54.00 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles, were good for all-UAA honors.

“I was just happy to be a part of both teams with such a determined group of guys,” Davis said. “Individual events are great, but there’s nothing like the feeling of leaving it all on the track for someone other than yourself.”

Davis ran with senior Tom Gulyas, freshman Jake Willen and sophomore Ryan Doll on the 4×100 to get a winning time of 42.92 seconds, and he and the Bears closed out the meet by winning the 4×400 along with freshman Arthur Townsend, Harmon, and senior Chris Malaya (3:18.77).

“It was the last race of the meet, and we already knew that we had the team title all wrapped up,” Harmon said of the 4×400. “We just wanted to go out and finish it with an exclamation point.”

“That four by four will be one of my favorite track and field memories for a long time to come,” Davis added.

Several other athletes on the men’s side took home individual titles. Senior Alden Black won both the 5,000-meter run (15:15.46) and the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:11.46), setting a UAA outdoor championship record with the latter. Junior Michael Burnstein’s 31:20.42 in the 10,000-meter run gave him a win as well.

In the field events, three more athletes brought home first-place finishes. Harmon took the pole vault (4.45 meters) and the long jump (7.09 meters), sophomore Tom Arnold won the shot put at 13.95 meters and junior Justin Pieper’s 1.93 meters earned him first in the high jump.

Despite leading at the end of Friday and through the majority of Saturday’s events, the women’s side suffered a 19-point loss to Emory to take second overall in the meet. However, the team did have several first-place finishes to highlight its weekend.

“Coming in, we were kind of not expected to win…and we knew that [Emory] would be making up a lot of points on Saturday,” junior Liz Phillips said. “We didn’t quite have the points, but we had a lot of excellent performances, a lot of [personal records], and I don’t think you can step away from a weekend like that and be upset.”

Phillips took both the 800 and 1,500-meter runs with respective times of 2:16.24 and 4:44.53, and senior Taryn Surtees’ 36:28.39 in the 10,000-meter run was also good for a win. The team’s 4×800 relay of freshman Katy Barron, junior Erica Jackey, junior Elisabeth Stocking and Phillips won with a time of 9:20.28.

“When you go to conference, it’s all strategic and you’re all trying to score the most points,” Phillips said. “And I guess I scored all the points I could for the team, so I was happy about that. It was definitely a good weekend.”

Two more athletes took three first-place finishes in the field events. Freshman Anna Etherington claimed first in the pole vault at a mark of 3.40 meters, and sophomore Anne Diaz-Arrastia won both the long jump (5.44 meters) and the triple jump (11.33 meters).

The teams will be back in action on Saturday for the Illinois College Twilight Open in Jacksonville, Ill. The meet—the first of four remaining meets before NCAA Championships—will begin at 4 p.m.

The teams combined for five NCAA provisional qualifying marks, including three from the women’s side, and the women’s team earned first overall at a windy Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Twilight Meet while the men’s team took fourth place.

The meet gave head coach Jeff Stiles flexibility with his lineup, as athletes ran in races in which they do not normally compete.

“We’re looking at where there are some holes in the UAA,” said Stiles, who cited sophomore Jennifer Ibe’s triple jump and junior Dan Davis’ 400-meter hurdles as examples of the team putting its athletes in atypical events. “We’re just trying to score as many points as possible.”

The women’s side received strong efforts from several competitors en route to winning the meet by 103.5 points over second-place DePauw University. Among the team’s eight event winners was junior Liz Phillips, whose time of 4:35.21 in the 1,500-meter run was good for an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Senior Kelli Blake’s time of 2:20.81 also won her the 800-meter run as well.

“I feel like [the 1,500] was a good performance,” Phillips said. “It was kind of windy and we also kind of had a tougher workout week this week….But I was definitely happy with it, and it was a good sign for conference.”

In addition to the strong showings from team captains Phillips and Blake, some of the team’s younger members also picked up first-place performances. Freshman Anna Etherington’s 3.55 meters gained her an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the pole vault, and freshman Shannon Howell’s 1:03.69 in the 400-meter hurdles not only gained her a provisional qualifier but also put her just .09 seconds short of the track’s record.

Howell also ran in the first-place 400-meter relay with Ahkianne Wanliss, Katie Sandson and Liz Godar—all freshmen—who combined for a mark of 49.77.

“They’re doing great,” Stiles said, of the freshmen on the women’s side. “We had a great recruiting class, and we needed them to fill in right away because we had a lot of holes. And they’re really embracing that and doing a great job.”

The men’s team tallied two more provisional qualifying times, both in the 5,000-meter run. Senior Dave Spandorfer’s won the event with a 14:38.91 mark, while junior Michael Burnstein’s time of 14:42.59 placed him just behind. The two currently have the fastest times for the event in Division III.

The team’s other first-place finish was in the 4×100 relay, where senior Tom Gulyas, Davis, freshman Jake Willen, and sophomore Ryan Doll put together a time of 42.76 to win the race.

“All of the exchanges went a lot better than they had in the last two weeks,” Gulyas said, of the relay. “The time could’ve been better, but overall it was still fine. We’re definitely going to put a lot of work in this week on our exchanges.”

Other strong performances included Davis’ 55.83 in the 400-meter hurdles and junior Tyler Jackson’s 15.30 in the 110-meter hurdles, both of which were good for third place.

Seniors Ben Harmon and Scott Pettit finished fourth and fifth in the men’s pole vault, at marks of 4.45 and 4.30 meters, respectively, and freshman Henry Clements placed fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:11.41.

The team will head to Atlanta, Ga. on Friday to compete in the UAA Championships, the team’s biggest meet to date in the spring season. The meet will begin at 10 a.m. EST.

“We’ll be ready,” Gulyas said. “Once you get to the meet and the adrenaline starts pumping, and you start seeing the Chicago jerseys and the Emory jerseys, you can get ready real fast. We’ll be fine.”

Matt Lee | Student Life

Junior Tyler Jackson competes in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. Jackson finished second in the event on Saturday, with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 14.61 seconds, as the men’s team took second in the meet.

“We wait all early season for a day like this,” junior Dan Davis said. “It hits 80 degrees and the distance runners start complaining and the sprinters get real happy and you see times start dropping real quick.”

The Bears competed in their third straight and final home meet of the year on Saturday, taking on four other schools. The women’s team won the meet, finishing 24 points ahead of second-place Wartburg College, while the men’s team placed second, 38 points behind Central College.

“We had a great meet. We rocked the house, up and down the line. That’s just how it is. So many [great] performances,” said head coach Jeff Stiles.

The first track event of the day, the 110-meter hurdles, set the stage for the men’s side. Davis finished first with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 14.34 seconds, just .01 seconds short of the school record. Junior Tyler Jackson was right with Davis, as he has been all year, finishing in second at 14.67 seconds, an NCAA provisional qualifying time.

“Originally I wasn’t planning on running the high hurdles here today, but we saw the forecast earlier in the week and I just thought I had to get some of that,” Davis said. “So this was kind of the best I could’ve been hoping for.”

Along with Davis’ win and Jackson’s victory in the 400-meter hurdles at 57.50 seconds, event winners on the men’s side included junior Justin Pieper’s 1.83 meters in the high jump and freshman Justin Rodriguez’s 9:08.29 in the 3,000-meter run. The men’s side also saw improvements in both the 4×100 meter and the 4×400 meter relays.

The women’s side featured five event winners and strong performances from not only the sprinters, but the distance runners as well. Senior Taryn Surtees’ 1,500-meter time of 4:48.05 was good for first place, as was junior Molly Wawrzyniak’s 11:33.76 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and freshman Gabby Reuveni’s 11:25.69 in the 3,000-meter run.

Surtees noted that this meet featured several distance runners in events that they would not typically run in, and that the weather took some pressure off of them to have their best performances.

“It was the first time I’d run the 1,500 since freshman year,” Surtees said of her run. “It was fun to try an event that I don’t generally run that often….I kind of just followed the pack and then at the end realized I could kick a little bit, which is always the way you want to race instead of going out too hard and dying. So I was satisfied. It was fun.”

Junior Elizabeth Phillips also took the 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.03 and freshman Anna Etherington grabbed another first-place finish with a mark of 3.40 meters in the pole vault.

Other strong performances for the women included freshman Shannon Howell’s 1:03.25 in the 400-meter hurdles, a provisional qualifier, and freshman Liz Godar’s 12.66 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 25.97 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Despite not scoring in either event, Godar’s performances against tough competition inspired some optimism from Stiles.

“We ran against some of the best short sprinters in the nation,” Stiles said. “So she didn’t score a point in the 100 [and 200], but that’ll score big in [University Athletic Association championships]. She did really well.”

The teams will head back on the road next Friday for the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Twilight Meet, the team’s final meet before the UAAs. The meet will begin on Friday at 5 p.m. EST.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Junior Dan Davis clears a hurdle in the 110-meter hurdles competition. Davis finished second with a time of 14.61 seconds, which was good for a NCAA provisional qualifying time.

The men’s team took second and the women placed fourth amongst 24 different competing schools on Friday and Saturday, at the Washington University Invitational meet.

“This is maybe the best meet, specifically on the men’s side, that we’ve ever had at this time of year,” head coach Jeff Stiles said. “On the women’s side too, we had just great marks all around.”

Three first-place finishes helped the men’s team have its presence felt across the board. Senior Dave Spandorfer’s 30:10.47 bested his own school record in the 10,000-meter run, senior Alden Black took the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 9:19.90 and junior Ben Cutting’s 50.20 meters won the javelin throw.

“It was definitely a very well-rounded meet from almost everyone,” senior Ben Harmon, whose third-place score of 6,763 in the decathlon automatically qualified him for the NCAA championship, said. “A lot of people stepped up this meet [and] had a lot of [personal records], so [we got] very solid performances from sprints, throws and the team as a whole.”

Junior Dan Davis narrowly missed out on first place in the 110-meter hurdles, with his time of 14.61. Meanwhile, juniors Michael Burnstein and Tucker Hartley finished right behind Spandorfer in the 10,000-meter run at 30:43.32 and 30:55.00, respectively. All three, along with Black and Davis, picked up NCAA provisional qualifying times.

“We knew that we all had a good chance at getting provisional marks,” Burnstein said of the 10,000. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect, because it was my first race of the year…and it ended up kind of working out pretty well.”

Senior Scott Pettit’s 4.55 meters in the pole vault was good for second place, and senior Chris Malaya’s 50.29-second time in the 400-meter dash netted him fourth place.

“It was a good sign of things to come, I think, because it’s still pretty early in the season and we’ll all have a lot of opportunities to qualify again,” Burnstein said.

Two first-place finishes highlighted the women’s side of the meet. Junior Erica Jackey took first in the 1,500-meter run for the second straight week, with a time of 4:43.14, while freshman Anna Etherington won the pole vault at 3.35 meters, just missing the NCAA provisional mark.

“If you’re a freshman and you’re just missing [provisional], that’s pretty good,” Stiles said of Etherington and freshman Shannon Howell, whose fifth-place time of 1:04.88 in the 400-meter hurdles put her just short of qualifying as well.

Freshman Jasmine Williams took second in the women’s high jump at 1.55 meters, and sophomore Anne Diaz-Arrastia’s 11.08 meters won fourth place in the triple jump.

One of the high points for the women’s side, according to Stiles, was the 4×400 meter relay, which placed sixth with the efforts of four freshmen: Alison Cesarz, Nkele Davis, Shannon Howell, and Williams.

“The women’s [4x400] was a big highlight,” Stiles said. “We dropped a lot of time and just kind of made a big breakthrough.”

The teams will be back in action at home on Saturday, April 9, at 10 a.m. for the Washington University Select Meet.

The women’s team tied for 27th place with eight points, and the distance-medley relay squad of Jessica Londeree, Shannon Howell, Erica Jackey and Liz Phillips finished as national runners-up (11:49.01).

James Harrang | Student Life

Senior Chris Malaya and junior Dan Davis practice at Francis Field last week. Davis highlighted the men’s performances at the Illinois College Classic on Friday with a record-breaking time in the 60-meter hurdles. Malaya took first place in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes.

The meets were the final tune-ups for the Bears before the University Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championships next weekend in Chicago, Ill.

In the North Central meet, the women’s team picked up 18 points, despite only having three entries overall. Junior Liz Phillips led the way by winning the mile run, finishing in 4:56.56, 1.57 seconds shy of the NCAA automatic qualifying time. Senior Sangeeta Hardy had the team’s other two entries, finishing fourth behind Phillips in the mile at 5:14.71 and placing sixth in the 800-meter run at 2:23.86.

“Liz’s race was phenomenal. I was really glad I got to be there and watch her race,” Hardy said. “She was ready. She’s been having really great workouts, and she ran that fast on her own.”

On the men’s side, four runners combined for 21 points. Junior Matt Rickard’s 1:58.39 in the 800-meter was good for third place. Junior Paul Garcia paced three Wash. U. runners in the mile, placing second at 4:17.29 while junior Matt Schwab and freshman Caleb Ford finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

The majority of the track and field program traveled to the Illinois College meet, where the women’s team finished first by a margin of 111 points and the men’s team finished a mere eight points behind winner and host Illinois College. The women produced at least one top-three finisher in every event in which they entered, and in some cases, swept the top three.

Junior Erica Jackey became the latest Bear to set a school record, finishing first in the 1,000-meter run with her time of 3:01.70.

“That race was kind of a surprise, kind of out of nowhere,” said Jackey, who had been ill in previous weeks. “It’s really good because it helps me get my confidence back and that I’m going to be okay and that my sickness didn’t put me too far back, training-wise.”

Freshman Liz Godar picked up two first-place finishes in the meet’s first two events, with a time of 8.19 seconds in the 60-meter dash and 27.47 in the 200-meter dash.

Other wins for the Bears included freshman Shannon Howell’s 1:01.25 in the 400-meter dash, freshman Lizzy Handschy’s 11:04.23 in the 3,000-meter run, freshman Jasmine Williams’ 1.61 meters in the high jump, freshman Anna Etherington’s 11 feet (3.35 m) in the pole vault, and senior Moji Hassan’s 13.51 meters in the weight throw.

Junior Dan Davis highlighted the men’s team’s performance with a record-breaking time in the 60-meter hurdles of 8.28. He topped the school record he and junior Tyler Jackson set earlier in the year. Davis also opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.22.

Jackson did not run alongside Davis because of an injury suffered during practice earlier in the week. Because of the limited number of all-time entries for the school in the 60-meter hurdles, breaking the record wasn’t a surprise to Davis.

“I was expecting for one of us to break it,” Davis said. “I was hoping we would get to have a showdown for it, but that’s not how things worked out. We’ll have to do that next year.”

Davis was one of six Wash. U. winners in the meet for the men’s team. Seniors Chris Malaya and Ben Harmon picked up first place in two events each, with Malaya taking the 200-meter (23.08) and 400-meter (51.41) dashes and Harmon taking the high jump (1.92 m) and the long jump (6.89). Junior Patrick Ryan won the 1,000-meter dash at 2:47.58, senior Zach Bahor took the 3,000-meter run, clocking in at 9:03.94, and senior Scott Pettit was the victor in the pole vault at 14-6 (4.42 m).

“We weren’t really racing for a team score as much as seeing what we could do individually, competitively,” Davis said.

Wash. U. will be in Chicago this weekend for the UAA Indoor Championships, its biggest meet of the winter season.

“We’re definitely excited to see what people can do. Last year was definitely a rebuilding year for us, in terms of people on the team and running enough depth,” Jackey said. “This year, we have a great freshman class, especially on the women’s side, so it’s really exciting to see what we can do.”

The meet will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will run through Sunday.

Matt Lanter | Student Life

Senior Dave Spandorfer runs alongside junior Will Forrester at the 2010 Washington University Invitational.

Phillips ran the mile in 5:00.01 to finish in first place, one of two victories for the women’s team at the meet. Her time is the seventh best in Division III this season, which currently qualifies her for the 2011 Division III Indoor Championships in March.

“It was definitely a good race,” Phillips said. “It wasn’t a ton of very intense competition, but I got to hit a provisional qualifying time, and that was a confidence boost.”

Freshman Gabby Reuveni, running in the 5,000-meter race, picked up the other victory for the women with a time of 19:25.56. Two other freshmen grabbed second-place finishes, Jasmine Williams in the high jump (1.58 meters) and Anna Etherington in the pole vault (3.45 meters).

“We had some great things from freshmen,” Phillips said. “A lot of the girls on the sprinting side hit some personal records and had some fast splits in the 400[-meter run], so we’re definitely seeing a lot of improvement.”

The men’s side picked up three first-place finishes. Junior Dan Davis ran a 7.51 in the 55-meter hurdles, missing his record-setting time, by just 0.01 seconds that he set on Jan. 29. Teammate Tyler Jackson finished in third place in the same race (7.92).

“I didn’t hit the time that I wanted to hit, but…it was nice to validate [my qualifying time] and to be able to say that I can run that when I need to, and so when it comes down to important meets, I’ll be able to turn up the throttle a little bit,” Davis said.

Senior Alden Black and junior Michael Burnstein took first and second in the 3,000-meter run, respectively. Black finished in 8.47:00, while Burnstein came in right behind him (8:48.20). Junior Paul Garcia, recording the other victory for the Bears, finished with a time of 15:06.25 in the 5,000-meter run.

Elsewhere for the Bears, senior co-captain Chris Malaya picked up second-place finishes in the 400-meter dash (50.78) and the 200-meter dash (23.04). Fellow captain and senior Ben Harmon cleared a season-best 4.65 meters in the pole vault, good for third place, and senior Chris Brennan took second in the 800-meter run (1:57.07).

“Overall, it was just a very good meet for moving in the right direction,” Malaya said. “A lot of people tweaked their races and came out of it thinking that they had done better, knowing they had done better, and knowing that they could, by conferences, be really peaking their times.”

The Bears have just one more meet to prepare for the University Athletic Association Indoor Championships. With the temperature rising, the team is looking forward to being able to practice outside.

“Every opportunity to use the [outdoor] track is really a great opportunity for us,” Phillips said.

“Obviously, there won’t be an instant drop in times, or something, but it’s all part of the process, and I definitely think there will be a lot of improvements.”

The team’s next competition, the North Central Cardinal Classic in Naperville, Ill., begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

“The meet before UAAs is always kind of a funny one, just because we’re not going to be killing ourselves,” Malaya said. “We’ll still be training through the meet, and we’ll be getting a big workload, but knowing that UAAs are coming up, that week coming afterwards is going to be very much dedicated to tapering down and being ready to perform at our best.”