From Brandeis University Athletics
The Brandeis indoor track and field team opened their spring semester on Saturday at the non-scoring University of Southern Maine Invitational.
On the men's side, junior Brad Payne (Westport, Conn. / Staples) took the 800-meter run with a mark of 2:11.95, just five-hundredths of a second faster than senior Trevor Tuplin (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) in second.
Sophomore Ryan Stender (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) rounded out the winners in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:01.20, which is good for 33rd place on the current NCAA Division III leaderboard.
Sophomore Mitchell Hutton (Villa Park, Calif./Villa Park) was the top collegiate finisher in the mile run, placing fourth overall with a time of 4:24.12. Among the unattached runners ahead of him was Alex Kramer '13, a two-time UAA Champion and NCAA qualifier in the event.
The day's only competitor to place in the top three in multiple events was senior Adam Berger (Concord, N.H./Concord) in the horizontal jumps. Berger was second in the triple jump with a distance of 12.71 meters (41 feet, 8 ¼ inches) and third in the long jump at 6.17 meters (20 feet, 3 inches), up three spots in the finals after finishing sixth in the prelims.
Other second-place finishers included senior Tove Freeman (Oakham, Mass./Quabbin Regional) in the 800 meters in 2:12.00 and senior Grady Ward (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) in the 1000 meters (second among college runners and third overall) in 2:39.03.
Third place finishers were senior Matt Becker (Mendon, Mass./Nipmuc Regional) in the 600 (1:26.09); junior Mark Franklin (Auburn, N.H./Pinkerton Acad.) in the high jump (1.78m, 5-10); and junior Orestes Marinos-Iatrides in the 35-pound weight throw (8.33m, 27-4).