Men's T&F Claims 2nd Place at Ted Nelson Invitational

Saturday, January 13

Staten Island, NY

TBA

Army West Point

Great Dane Classic

Men's T&F Claims 2nd Place at Ted Nelson Invitational

January 13, 2018 | Men's Track and Field

WEST POINT, NY – The Army West Point men's track and field team excelled at the Ted Nelson Invitational, claiming second place.

After a tough two-day battle, the Black Knights scored 83 points at the Ted Nelson Invitational, which was good for second place, only two points ahead of Clemson (3rd). The team performed against tough competitors such as Texas A&M, Abilene Christian, Texas State, UT-Arlington, Stephen F. Austin, and University of Texas San Antonio.

COACH'S QUOTES:
I expected this to be a very competitive meet and indeed it was," said head coach Mike Smith. "We were challenged in almost every event and in most cases our guys really rose to the challenge." I am particularly pleased that we finished second in the team scoring and that we beat Clemson."

"Coming into the last few events it was obvious that Texas A&M had a commanding lead and we were in a dead heat with Clemson for the second spot. I could point to a lot of events that made the difference, but in the end, it came down to the 4x400 and our guys stepped up and ran great."

"I had initially hoped to hold our own against the teams at this meet, so I am really impressed with how we managed to get second and the way we did it. We only won a few events, but we scored in almost all those events and that really helped us.
"Individually I thought Keagan Smith was outstanding. He looked a little rusty last night in the DMR, but today he was very good in winning that mile. Lee Bares was his usual dependable self, and Jeff Giannettino had some good attempts at 7 feet."

"I left the meet last weekend wondering how long it would take for us to look like the team we were in December, and today I saw a lot of very competitive performances and great effort across the board. I feel we are very close to being the team I think we can be. We will continue to get better by week and I like our direction."

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND MEET NOTES

TED NELSON
Track Events

Keagan Smith had a strong showing in the one mile taking first and clocking a time of 4:09.61. Mikey Singer placed eighth in this event with a time of 4:18.17.
Tyrell Maddox took the 17^th spot in the 400-meter dash coming in at 49.45 seconds, and was directly followed by Patrick Bowen in 18^th with a time of 50.04.
Army took four of the top 12 spots in the 800m. Nick Causey took ninth clocking a time of 1:54.19, Ben Boswell took 10^th with a time of 1:55.59, Alex Combs clocked a time of 1:56.97 which was good for 11^th place, and Jeffrey Price claimed the 12^th spot coming in at 1:57.32.
Tyler Davis landed in eighth place in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.00 seconds. Close behind him were teammates Kedrin Jefferson (22.13) in 10^th and Andre Vaughn (22.25) in 12^th.
Army took two of the top six spots in the 3000m. Roman Ollar had a strong showing, placing third with a time of 8:22.75, while Daniel Mazzei was close behind coming in sixth with a time of 8.28.41.
The Black Knights took the fifth spot in the 4x400m, clocking in at 3:13.97.

Field Events

Lee Bares took third overall in the pole vault clearing a height of 5.02m. Joe Popek claimed the seventh spot with a height of 4.57m.
Army took two of the top 10 spots in the weight throw. Kenneth Brinson had a good performance taking second place and throwing for 17.83m. Behind him, Wyatt Doughty took seventh with a distance of 16.74m.
Jeff Giannettino took second in the high jump, jumping for a height of 2.08m. Bernard Jenkins claimed 11^th with a height of 1.93m.
Michael Renard took 10^thin the shot put, throwing for 14.58m. Geoff Kirk was just behind him in 11^th place with a distance of 14.54m, while Grant Alter took 13^th throwing for a distance of 14.20m.
In the long jump, Drew Bullen took 10^th jumping for a distance of 6.78m. Tyrese Bender claimed 15^th, with a distance of 6.07m.

GREAT DANE HIGHLIGHTS
Track Events

In the 800-meter run, Mark Baker placed seventh overall with a time of 1:56.56.
Jackson Sullivan placed 10^th in the 1000-meter run clocking in at 2:32.98.

Field Events

Ethan Aus placed 10^th in the shot put, throwing for 13.19m.

UP NEXT
The team returns to action on Jan.20 at the Penn 8-Team Select in Staten Island, N.Y., hosted by UPenn.

For more information on Army West Point men's track and field, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.