From NYU Athletics
The New York University men's track & field team hosted the NYU Invitational on Friday, February 9, at the New Balance Track & Field Center in Manhattan.
One Violet came home with the title "champion", as Neil Saddler captured the 3,000-meter race. His time of 8:17.19 was more than 20 seconds faster than his nearest competitor, broke the team record set by Hany Abdallah (8:18.65) in 2008 and landed him on a short list of top performances in NCAA Division III so far this season.
"Depending on what else happens around the country this weekend, Neil's time could be among the top five in the nation," said Head Coach Erison Hurtault. "This was a great performance and should put him on his way to qualifying for the NCAA Championships."
It was also an excellent day for the Montilus brothers. The eldest of the pair, Malcolm, placed second (of 49 runners) in the 400m with a time of 48.83, just two one-hundreths of a second behind the winner, Peter Girardi of St. John Fisher College. The younger sibling, Julian, ran the 60m hurdles for the first time this season. He clocked a time of 8.80 in the preliminaries of the 20-person event, then came back to run 8.73 in the finals and secure a fourth-place finish.
The duo also paired with Vince Booth and Soham Kamat to take third in the meet-ending 4x400m relay with a time of 3:23.37.
The freshman foursome of Jonathan Sussman, Jacob Fandel, Samuel Klein, and Dillan Spector worked together to produce a third-place finish in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:59.29.
William Lee also produced a third-place finish for the Violets. Competing in a field of 17, Lee reached a height of 1.88m in the high jump.
Sherman King had a solid performance in the pole vault, taking fourth place with a height of 4.26m in the 14-person competition.
Brandon Shirazi placed sixth in the mile with a personal-best time of 4:17.62. Several of his teammates also posted top-20 finishes and personal-best times: Ben Karam (13th, 4:21.50), Connor Riley (14th, 4:22.52), Karn Setya (15th, 4:22.74), and Jordan Reyes (18th, 4:25.25).
Vince Booth produced a top-10 finish (eighth place) in the 800, posting a time of 1:56.97. Setya placed 11th (1:58.03) and Benjamin Heintz was 14th (1:58.68) in the 65-person event.
Joshua Bunch led a trio of Violets in the long jump. He took 12th place with a leap of 5.94m and was followed by Tomatse Ogedegbe (13th, 5.93m) and Jonathan Lin (20th, 5.57m) in the 36-person event.
Also out on the field, Zachary Adams posted a 13th-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 12.30m