BRIDGEWATER RESULTS | ROCHESTER RESULTS

The Ithaca men's track and field team opened up their outdoor track season this past weekend. With the squad split between the Dr. Harry M. Doc Jopson Invitational at Bridgewater College Virginia and the Rochester Spring Opener, the team battled long travel and challenging weather as they opened up their season with numerous Liberty League marks and individual victories. 

On the distance side, the men saw two victories in Virginia. Junior Elliott Painting won the 10K Friday night, leading from the start to finish. Painting set a personal best of 32:31, qualifying for both Liberty Leagues and AARTFC. Painting won the race by 50 seconds, running his final mile of the race in under five minutes. The following day, first-year Griffin Lupes did more of the same for the Bombers distance squad. Lupes won the 5K in a time of 16:03, his second victory of his collegiate career.

The remainder of the men's distance team took to the track Sunday in Rochester. The meet got postponed one day due to weather, meaning the Bombers were given the rare opportunity to race on a Sunday. The Rochester crew was led by senior Aidan Loughlin who ran 4:13 in the 1500 meters, first-year Luke Ferrer who finished the 800 meter run in 2:03 and first-year Felix Farrugia who clocked a 16:25 5K in his first time taking on that distance on the track. 

The Bomber pole vault team joined distance in Rochester and were led by first-year Raf Campanile. Campanile picked up right where he left off indoors where he was a member of both the All-Liberty and All-Region teams. Campanile took home first place in his collegiate outdoor debut, jumping 4.47 meters, clearing his first three jumps of the competition to help him solidify the victory. Sophomore Dylan Sullivan finished fourth with a jump of 4.17 meters. 

The rest of the field events dominated in Virginia. While the overall marks were limited by both cold and rain during Friday's competition, the Bombers took home first place finishes in both the triple jump and the javelin throw. Quentin Lewis, the Liberty League indoor triple jump champion, got a mark of 12.97 meters to take home first and qualify for Liberty Leagues. In the javelin, the Bombers had four of the top five spots. Sophomore Ty Duffin got fifth, first-year Dan Musilli grabbed third in his collegiate debut, first-year Parker Delgado finished second and senior Noah McKibben won the competition, throwing 48.91 meters, narrowly missing his personal best of 50.09.

The Bombers sprinters primarily competed on the second day of competition at Virginia and were led by the dominant performance of the 400 meter hurdlers. They entered four athletes in the event and swept the top four. Junior George Nilson ran a two second personal best of 60.24 seconds for fourth. Junior Joseph Napolitano ran 58.92 for third. Napolitano scored at Liberty Leagues in this event as a first-year, and after dealing with a chronic foot injury for the better part of the last three seasons, he is looking to return to the podium this spring. First-year Eddie Kennedy got second place in his first ever 400 meter hurdle race after only racing the 300 meter variation in high school. Kennedy's 57.38 was just behind senior Matt Lokshin who crossed the finish line in 57.16 seconds. 

Lokshin also took home a third place finish in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 15.38 seconds in the finals. He was joined by sophomore Rhys Tickner in the finals who finished seventh with a time of 16.59 seconds.

In the relays, the Bombers sent their top squads to Virginia. They finished second place in the 4x100 meter relay, with first-years Anik Vossschulte and Jacob Antilety joining junior twins Max and Alex Boreland to run a time of 42.98 seconds. In the 4x400 the Bombers fielded two teams, taking first and second place. Tickner, Lokshin, sophomore Damian Simmonds and Nilson ran 3:31.92 on the A squad to secure another victory for the Bombers. 

In total, the South Hill Squad had seven first place finishers during their split-squad opening weekend. The team will be together next weekend when they travel to SUNY Cortland on Friday April 3, when they compete in the Cortland Invitational.