From NYU Athletics
The Saturday Night Shootout, held on January 18 at the New Balance Track and Field Center in Manhattan, was the second meet of the season for the New York University men's track & field team. NYU athletes competed against representatives of NCAA Division I, II and III schools, as well as several track clubs and unattached athletes.
No team scoring was kept at the meet.
The Violets produced several top-10 finishes.
"Our shot putters did well today and Sebastian Oja successfully opened his season in the 3,000m race," said NYU Head Coach Nick McDonough. "We also saw a good performance from our freshman Budd Brown in the 400m."
Oja, a junior, missed last year's track season while studying abroad. One of the most consistent runners during this year's cross country season, Oja began his indoor campaign with a ninth-place finish in the 3,000m (8:53.98).
Freshmen shot putters had another successful outing. Carter Beardsley was seventh with a 14.03m throw, while Antony Zeng was 11th (13.86m). Both athletes set their season's bests.
Brown was 14th in the 400m with a time of 50.87, almost one second faster than at last week's Gotham Cup. In the 4x400m relay, Brown along with his teammates sophomore Max Avila, freshmen Chevaun Samuels and Curtis Mann, took 10th place (3:29.08)
Highlights:
- Senior team captain Ryan Gilmore took seventh place in the 1,000m, clocking 2:34.84.
- The 4x800m relay team of sophomore Eddie Cruz-Desintonio, and freshmen Felix Chung, Nathaniel Picard-Busky and Aaron Walker improved their season's best by almost five seconds, clocking 8:13.68 for 10th place.
- In the mile, junior Dharan Kadiyala placed 22nd out of 53 participants with a time of 4:24.44. In the fourth section of the event, freshman Nick Karam and junior Steve Crnic broke away from the field with three laps to go. Karam was several meters ahead of his teammate, but Crnic demonstrated a strong final spurt and the two Violet runners crossed the line together, clocking 4:31.25 (31st place). Karam improved on last week's result by almost three seconds.
- Avila opened his season in the 800m with a time of 2:01.29 and 21st place, less than a second shy of his personal best. Samuels and Mann registered 2:02.80 (29th place) and 2:06.73 (41st place) times, respectively..
- Junior Brandon Deniz set an indoor personal best in the long jump with a 6.13m attempt (24th place).
- Sophomore team captain Matthew Powers placed 19th in the 60m with a season's best of 7.19. He also clocked 22.84 in the 200m (24th place).