A Pole vaulter competes at the WashU Invite on Saturday, April 1. (Maddix Cradlebaugh | Student Life)

“I was thinking all right, last 200 [meters of the race] that when I’ll turn it on,” graduate runner Arthur Santoro said, recalling his 800m victory at the annual WashU Distance Carnival. “When I got there, I saw my teammates cheering, and I was like “Okay, it’s showtime!”

In one of the most competitive races of the evening, Santoro found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with junior runner Jake Schumer of Millikin University at the end of the 800m race. With only half a track left until the finish line, the race was wide open.

But a determined Santoro gathered enough energy that was left in him — thanks largely to support that he received from his teammates at the 200m mark — to win the race with a time of 1:52:07, which ranks third-best nationally this season.

“I thought to myself, ‘Do I want to win this?’” he said. “And I was like, hell yeah I want to win this race!”

The Washington University men’s and women’s track and field teams won the annual WashU Invite Meet this past weekend. The men won the meet with 183 points, while the women took care of business at their end with 236 points. The weekend’s major highlights were seniors Ella Behrens and Emily Konkus’s incredible record-breaking performances at the annual WashU Distance Carnival. 

Konkus and Behrens both broke WashU program records. Konkus finished eighth in the 5,000m run, putting up a time of 16:51:00, which is ranked fifth nationally and first in the program’s history. Behrens came fourth in the 10,000m run with a time of 35:13:23, which ranks sixth nationally and first in program history.

The Distance Carnival event was scheduled to take place Friday, March 31, but due to storms that passed through St. Louis that evening, the event was rescheduled to Saturday, April 1. 

Men’s: WashU Invite and Distance Carnival

On Saturday, the men’s track won its second straight meet of the outdoor track season, besting the Greenville University men’s track team that finished the day with 114 points.

Over the course of several events, the Bears’ impressive win was led by senior Gio Alfred, who won the 110m hurdles race with a time of 14:40.

Junior Seif Elkhashab won the men’s shot put competition with a hurl of 12.89m; and the WashU’s 4×400 team of sophomore Ryan Githuku, junior Alex Djetto, senior Aidan Smyth, and senior Marcus-Jay Wilkes finished second with a time of 3:20:23 which ranks 19th nationally. 

Other notable individual performances came from jumper senior Abayomi Awoyomi, who had himself a field day as he won the triple-jump competition with a mark of 14.24m, which ranks third in the Bears’ program history and sixth nationally. The senior also came second in the long jump.

But despite what, on paper, looked like a great performance, Awoyomi noted that he wasn’t too happy with his jumping techniques

“It’s really just technique stuff,” he said. “With long jump, I even took a short approach today because I was doing both on the same day. On the long jump, just focus on hitting that board and popping up. And then on the triple jump, just focus on keeping my first face low so I can cover more ground. Those are things I wish I could have done better today. But again, I’m not disappointed. Just I wish it was a little better.”

At the Distance Carnival, the men performed really well.

Santoro won the 800m run with a time of 1:52:07, which ranks third nationally.

Senior Jeff Candell finished sixth in the 3,000m steeplechase, racing to a time of 9:11:51, which ranks sixth nationally.

Graduate student Thomas Penney finished sixth in the 1,500m run, racing to a time of 3:52:85, which ranks 13th nationally. Junior Frankie Lynch took seventh with a time of 3:52:56, which is 15th nationally.

“Going into the race, obviously I was pretty nervous,” Lynch said. “I get pretty tense up before races. But in the race, I was trying to stay under control, stay behind that front-pack. Then [when] we were coming out on the curb, I was like, ‘I gotta do it now.’ And I saw the Pacer drop out. I was like, right, that’s my cue. I’m taking that. And then I just kicked it.”

Women’s: WashU Invite and Distance Carnival

On Saturday, the #2 nationally ranked women’s track team cruised to its second straight meet victory of the year with 236 points, over second-place Greenville University, who finished the day with 85 points.

Over the course of several events, the Bears’ impressive performances were led by sophomore Nicole Stewart, who won the 100m race with a time of 12:07, putting up the fourth-best time in program history and eighth nationally this outdoor season.

A 4×400 team of freshman Ruby Kaplan, Stewart, sophomore Morgan Fowler, and junior Kathyrn Leighty won the event with a time of 4:04:12, which ranks 19th nationally. Leighty also won the 400m with a time of 1:00:95.

Sophomore Lauren Gay finished third in the 200m dash with a time of 25:43 but went on to win the 100m hurdles with 14:55. 

“There were a couple of things I needed to work on,” Gay said. “With hurdles, just my start wasn’t too good. But overall, I felt good. I finished fast, so it was good.”

At the Distance Carnival, the women’s track performed well too. Junior Emma Kelley ran the best 800m time so far this season in NCAA DIII Women’s outdoor track with a time of 2:06:72. 

Senior Aoife Dunne won the 1,500m run with a time of 4:29.48, which is also the top time this season in NCAA DIII Women’s outdoor track. 

Both the WashU Invite and the Distance Carnival are the last track events to be hosted on the Francis Olympic track until next year. For graduating seniors, Saturday was the last time they would ever get to compete at home.

“It’s a little bittersweet, but I know it’s a really proud moment for me,” Awoyomi said. “Just seeing the combination of my hard work from freshman year to COVID.  I’m proud of how far I’ve come.”