Sagehens Compete in the '09 SCIAC Invitational

The men’s track and field program faced conference rivals at the 2009 SCIAC Invitational.  In attendance were squads from Caltech, CMS, La Verne, Redlands, Occidental, and Whittier.

The Sagehens came into the competition with a strong lineup of talented runners; catching the remainder of the conference teams a bit off-guard.  “We entered the meet with what could easily be described as lofty ambitions yet we managed to meet or surpass every milestone. Last year the team scored a mere 67 points at this very meet, to come back a year later and score 132 points illustrates the vast improvements our team has made in both depth and quality,” commented Coach Boston.

RESULTS

Athlete of the meet honors go to freshman sprinter John “Jack” Lewis.  Lewis competed in the 100m dash, 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles, and the 4X100m relay.  He scored in each of his four events, posting very impressive times in the process.  In all, Lewis amassed a total of 21.5 of Pomona’s 132 team points.

Freshmen teammates Anders Crabo and Colin Flynn complimented the strong efforts of Lewis, bringing in 18 and 14 points respectively.  Crabo’s first place finish in the 2000m steeplechase earned 10 points for the Sagehens, while his 2nd place finish in the 3000m run brought in 8 points.  Flynn won the 1500m with a time of 4:05 earning him 10 points and contributed to a Pomona-Pitzer sweep of the top six places in the 3000m run (4 pts). 

Veteran runner, Torrey Olson continued his dominance in the distance events.  Olson won the 3000m race and finished in third in the 1500m.  Commenting on Olson’s early season performances Coach Boston remarked, “Torrey ended his 2008 cross country season at the NCAA Championships and appears to be on track to end his 2009 track season in the same fashion—a competitor at nationals”.

Next week the team will compete in two meets.  The majority of the distance runners will compete on Friday night at the Oxy Distance Carnival; the rest of the team will run on Saturday at a SCIAC conference meet hosted by the California Institute of Technology.