From Brandeis University Athletics
It was quite the first day for the Judges track and field teams at the 2018 UAA Outdoor Championships hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.
A huge highlight came in the men's pole vault came when freshman Breylen Ammen (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) vaulted a massive personal best to set a new school record and finish 5th with a height of 4.48m (14'08.25"). This was a giant breakthrough for the young athlete as it marked his first time over 14 feet.
Seven events have already been scored and Brandeis athletes in those events certainly set the stage for their teammates competing on day two. On the men's side, the Judges were especially strong in the field and got the ball rolling in just the first event of the day, the long jump. In the long jump, both sophomore Jack Allan (Wrentham, Mass./King Phillip Reg.) and senior Henry McDonald (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) picked up points. Allan was 5thwith a 6.45m (21'02") jump and McDonald not far behind in 8th with a 6.18m (20'03.5") leap. Both returned to later for the prelims of the 110m hurdles with Allan running 15.68 seconds to be the 4th fastest athlete in tomorrows final.
Junior Scott Grote (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield) was another athlete who had an impressive double. Grote started the day with a shot put personal best of 13.84m (45'05") for 5th, over a foot improvement on his best from this past indoor season. He then came back in the afternoon to nab 6th in the hammer throw with a toss of 45.47m (149'02").
The final male scorers on day one came in the 4x800m relay where the squad of Joshua Lombardo (Westbrook, M.E./Westbrook), Jacob Judd (West Hartford, C.T./Conard), Patrick Quinlan (Northampton, Mass./Northampton), and Erez Needleman (Queens, N.Y./American Studies) placed 7th with a time of 8:09.75.