DMR Breaks School Record, Qualifies for Nationals

(2/28/2009) Full Results

One week after their 2nd place finish at the DIII New England Championships at MIT, the Jumbos ventured across town to the Boston University oval in pursuit of personal and season bests as well as potential qualifiers. They got that and more. With the best athletes in New England (DI, DII, and DIII) toeing the line this Friday and Saturday, the Jumbos took full advantage of the great opportunity to post some amazing performances.

Jump starting the momentum of the meet was Ikenna Acholonu who advanced though to the semifinals of the 55mHH. Acholonu would return the next day to outperform his seed with a showing in the finals and a 9th place finish. Taking full advantage of the momentum from the hurdles and adding their own punch was the pair of half milers, Jason Hanrahan and Connor Rose. Hanrahan continued his stellar season posting an impressive 1:54.50 in the 800m. Hanrahan hit the IC4A qualifier and narrowly missed qualifying for the National Championships by 0.25 seconds. Rose built on his strong freshman season to post the 8th fastest time in New England this year after he crossed the line in 1:55.22.

Senior quad-captain Colin Fitzgerald kept the pedal floored as he cut another 0.14 off his 200m PR this season. His 22.30 narrowly missed qualifying for the finals and tying a school record by 0.02 seconds. However, even with all those great performances, the team would truly save the best for last on Friday evening.

With their eyes set on becoming the first team in school history to break the 10 minute barrier, the DMR stepped up in a big way to do exactly that. Lead off leg Billy Hale took the lead early as the pace slowed early. His efforts easily kick-started the race for a number of teams. He came through in a 3:05 split, but was exactly what the race needed. His actions would not go unnoticed as his teammates responded in kind with great performances of their own. Phil Rotella (48.7) and Scott Brinkman (1:54.3) fought to get the team back into position to accomplish their goal. As Brinkman handed off the baton to anchor leg Jesse Faller, the clock ticked through 5:50... Faller would need to split sub 4:10. Running alone for the majority of the race, Faller set himself up perfectly with an opening 800m of 2:04. He held pace brilliantly and closed hard to finish in 9:59.33, a new school record and national qualifier.

Even still, Saturdays relay performance would prove to be just as exciting as those on Friday evening. With the 4x800m team of Hanrahan, Brinkman, Corey Melnick, and Marcelo Norsworthy the Jumbos posted a season best time of 7:51.22, just missing a scoring place - finishing 9th. Closing out the meet was the 4x400 consisting of Rotella, Rose, Fitzgerald, and freshman Ben Crastnopol. Rose was caught up in some incidental contact on the lead off leg that would drastically slow the race, but each of the four legs ran strong nonetheless and closed hard to finish just one second off a season best.

Electing to run fresh in the relays and resting many athletes for the ECAC Championships and Nationals, the Jumbos entered this weekend with fewer entries than years past. That didn't stop them from making a lot of noise and posting many impressive performances. The team continues to gain strength and speed. Not only does the rest of the indoor season look exciting, but there are many athletes counting down the days until the first outdoor meet.


Full Results