The SUNY Delhi track and field team continued this years assault on the record books at Ithaca College this weekend, in a huge meet. Three different event records were broken during the course of the meet while many other performances jumped up in all-time performance list.
The first record to go was in the women's weight throw. Senior Antori Abraham broke the record she set last year with a new personal best of 12.30 meters. Two flights later, freshman Diana Echols, who also plays on the women's basketball team at Delhi, stepped into the circle and threw one 12.75 meters (41' 10") establishing the record again.
Other top performances for the women came from freshman Madeeah Oranchak who placed eighth in the first 60 meter dash of her college career running 8.10 seconds, just 0.06 of the school record in that event. She also had a top 10 finish in the triple jump placing tenth with a mark 10.53 meters (34' 6.75"). Also posting a top ten finish was freshman Cheyenne Weaver who placed tenth in the shot put with a mark of 11.31 meters (37' 1"). Weaver has now thrown the shot put in three college meets and holds the top three performances in school history in that event.
For the men, the highlights came from the jumpers and the distance runners. On the triple jump runway, senior Keimon Barrow had a nice progression going that resulted in a final jump of 15.45 meters (50' 8.25") adding two centimeters to the school record he set earlier this year. Barrow first broke the triple jump record as a freshman and has continued to add to it each season. His mark won the meet and established a new facility record as well.
In the long jump competition, Barrow continued his strong day. He had another nice progression that resulted in him breaking the school record in that event with a leap of 7.17 meters (23' 6.5"). Barrow reclaimed the record from sophomore teammate Doug Williams. Williams held the record to start the season, but it has changed hands between the two three times this season. Williams was fourth in the long jump with a mark of 6.78 meters (22' 3") and freshman Troy Dickson added a tenth place finish with a huge season best mark of 6.49 meters (21' 3.5").
The jump group continued to dominate in the high jump where senior Brian McLeod led the way. McLeod has been stuck on a 6' 6" personal best for multiple years. Despite getting far more consistent each year, he just couldn't get over that mark, until Saturday. McLeod carried a clean sheet through 6' 6" and the bar went to 2.03 meters (6' 8"). On his third attempt, McLeod hit that one beautiful jump and soared over the bar. He followed that up with two really good attempts at 6'9.25". Barrow cleared 1.98 meters (6' 6") to place fourth and freshman Mike Beebe, who also plays on the basketball team at Delhi, cleared 1.93 meters (6' 4") to place ninth.
The other highlights came from the distance runners who have continued to build off their success in the fall season that resulted in the national championship. Leading the way was sophomore Nick Arnecke who continued his meteoric rise with a second place finish in the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:38.91. Arnecke entered Delhi last fall with a personal best time of 19:19, now he is the sixth fastest man in indoor program history. Close behind in the race was sophomore Andrew Davis who broke the 16 minute barrier for the first time in his career placing fourth in the race with a time of 15:52.71. Freshman Jon Messler ran a nice indoor personal best time of 9:04.00 to place sixth overall.
The teams will travel to Colgate University next week for the Class of '32 Invitational.