BOSTON, Mass. & MEDFORD, Mass. - Coast Guard men's track & field split time between two meets this past Saturday, competing at Boston University's David Hemery Valentine Invitational and Tufts' Stampede Open. Between both meets, multiple Bears cadet-athletes improved upon their personal and collegiate-best marks.
BU's Hemery Invitational
The track portion of Coast Guard's squad showed out in Boston among a highly-competitive field that included athletes from all three levels of NCAA as well as independent competitors.
Ian Naff (Arlington, Va.) continued his impressive sophomore campaign with a 17th overall placement in the 400-meters thanks to a top time of 48.75, and 20th in the 200-meters by running 22.11.
Mid-distance highlights saw freshmen Sam Myers (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) and Miles Taylor (Austin, Tex.) post lifetime and collegiate best marks, respectively, in the 800-meters. Myers was the Bears' top finisher in the event with his mark of 1:56.37, which was also the tenth-best indoor 800-meters time in Academy history, while Taylor improved to 1:58.13.
Finally, in distance, sophomore Brendan Fant (East Lyme, Conn.) set a new season-best in the mile by running a 4:20.78.
Tufts' Stampede Open
In Medford, junior Glenn Patrick (Fairhope, Ala.) and freshman Tytan Moore (St. Petersburg, Fla.) caused some movement on Coast Guard's All-Time Indoor 60-meters list. Patrick's time of 7.15 was a personal record and moved him into third in Academy history, while Moore had a successful debut in the event by posting a 7.32 to secure the tenth-best time. Also of note in the sprint events was freshman Noah Westkott (Quaker Hill, Conn.), who had the Bears' top time in the 200-meters, as well as a new collegiate-best, by running 24.07.
The distance events saw junior Paul Hobbs (Vacaville, Calif.) set a collegiate-best 3,000-meters time, running 8:46.33 as Coast Guard's top finisher. Freshman James Kuduk (Harleysville, Pa.) made his debut in the 5,000-meters and ran a 15:50.48, the second-fastest time in the event by a Bear this season, and fellow freshman Andrew Rowan (Towson, Md.) placed 11th in the mile, posting a 4:38.05.
In field events, freshman Scott Bayliss (Hudson, Ohio) placed third in the high jump by clearing 1.85 meters (6' 0.75"), while junior Liam Kuperman (Lewiston, N.Y.) set a personal record of 4.15 meters (13' 7.25") in the pole vault. Moore, seemingly unsatisfied with his impressive 60-meters debut, placed sixth in the triple jump with a top mark of 13.20 meters (43' 3.75").
In the throwing events, sophomore Vincent Grillo (Wilmington, Del.) was seventh in the shot put, tossing it 13.63 meters (44' 8.75"), while senior Philip Kirby (North Andover, Mass.) was third in the weight throw with a top mark of 15.50 meters (50' 10.25'), a collegiate-best for the team captain.
Bears men's track & field is back in action on Saturday, February 22nd, at Springfield College's Triangle Classic. The meet is slated for a 10:30 a.m. start in Springfield's Field House.
