RYAN DUNNING
Special to The Leader
Both the men and women’s track and field squads traveled to Houghton College this past weekend for the SUNYAC championship meet.
The men’s side was won by Geneseo, who scored over 10 points in six events, pulling them ahead of Brockport and Cortland, who took second and third, respectively.
The Blue Devils took fifth on the men’s side, a place lower than last year. The scoring for the Devils was dominated by field events, with 34 of their 38 points coming from those events.
Leading the way was senior Nick Serafin, who took first place in the high jump. Serafin was the only SUNYAC champion for the men.
Sophomore Derek Sunderland also scored in the high jump, taking fifth place.
Pole vault saw three Devils in scoring positions. Transfer Gus Alvarez and sophomore Jonah McGrath placed third and fourth, and senior Trent Howard placed eighth.
McGrath also placed seventh in the triple jump with sophomore Dan Sudyn placing fourth.
On the track, the men took seventh place in both the distance medley relay and the 4x400m relay. Among the runners in the 4×4 was sophomore captain Ivan Torres.
“Overall [the meet] went well. The guys that were supposed to score, scored. We also had some guys who weren’t expected to score step up and steal some points,” Torres said of the meet. “We scored more points than projected, so I think it went well.”
Despite this, he sees a lot of room for improvement.
“I believe that confidence plays a huge part in performance. I’ve seen it throughout this season. Many people tend to doubt themselves before they race. ‘I can’t keep with these guys.’ If you think like that, then, yeah, you’re not going to perform,” he said.
Through his criticisms, he’s positive about the future.
“I’m looking forward to people that are going to develop and take on that leadership role and make that push to qualify for SUNYACs and eventually score points for us,” said Torres.
The girls side was also won by Geneseo, who dominated the field, nearly doubling Brockport’s second place score.
The Blue Devils placed seventh on the women’s side. Contrary to the men’s competition, the women scored most of their points on the track.
The women’s lone field event scorer was sophomore Cassie Serafin, who placed fifth in the triple jump.
“I did well in the triple jump. I jumped 11.38m which was a two inch personal best for me,” Serafin said of her performance.
Sophomore Ayana Bursie lead the way on the track, placing second in the 60m and fifth in the 200m.
The team placed eighth in the 4x400m relay and seventh in the distance medley relay.
Senior captain Emily Maguire anchored the DMR, as well as placing seventh in the 800m.
“I don’t think prelims could’ve gone any better for me,” Maguire said. “My goal was to make finals, and I ran the race of my life getting there. Finals wasn’t quite as smooth, but I’m happy with how it went as a whole.”
Like Torres, Maguire had some constructive criticisms.
“We definitely need some work. However, I think we are improving and moving in the right direction,” she said.