The men's track and field team will travel north this weekend to Hanover, N.H. to take on host Dartmouth and the rest of the Ivy League at the Indoor Heptagonal Championships. Two athletes enter the competition with top seeds, and several others are primed to earn major points for the Bears.
As a team, Bruno finished a disappointing sixth in 2005, lacking the depth to back up the squad's all-stars.
"Of course the goal is to improve upon last year's finish," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Craig Lake. "It will be a tight competition this year in the team scores, where realistically 15 points could separate third and sixth places."
Ray Bobrownicki '06 was the only Bear to post an individual victory at the 2005 Indoor Heps, and the high jump veteran will take to the infield this weekend with hopes of becoming just the third man in conference history to win the event three times. Bobrownicki boasts a seasonal best of 6 feet, 11 3/4 inches, giving him the top seed in the event.
The only other victory from 2005 came from the distance medley relay team. Both Jordan Kinley '06 and Eamon Quick '07 return this season in an attempt to defend their crown. Joining them will be Ozzie Myers '08, who has found his stride this year and now ranks sixth in the league in the 3,000-meter run. The fourth runner in this event will be determined closer to the actual meet. The three aforementioned runners will also run individual events in hopes of boosting the Bears' total.
Names to watch for Brown's distance squad also include cross country standouts Chris Burke '07 and Nick Neely '07 in the 5,000-meter run.
"We're hoping for two to score in the five (kilometer run) and have Ozzie sneak in and steal points in the 3k," Lake said.
Dallas Dissmore '06 also enters the championships atop the Ivies in the 500-meter run. Although he finished third at the 2005 meet, this time around Dissmore enters with a top seed after posting a season-best time of 1:02.28, nearly a second and a half over the competition.
"Dallas is going for his first Heptagonal win," Lake said. "He'll have to get out hard and go after it."
Dissmore will also take to the line at the conclusion of the meet to serve as a vital cog on the 4x400 relay team, which has clocked 3:16.38 to rank fourth in the league and qualify for the fast heat. Three runners return from 2005's fourth-place team.
One of those returners is Mike Pruzinsky '07, who will also race the individual 400-meter dash after finishing fourth in the event last year.
"This is the most competitive year we've seen in the middle distance and distance events in a long time," Lake said. "The league's depth is remarkable."
Ikenna Achilihu '08, who finished fourth at the 2005 meet in the triple jump and is ranked in the same position this year, has been testing the waters in both the triple and long jumps this season. At Heps, he will bypass the double and focus on his forte.
"My goal is to be as technically proficient as possible," Achilihu said. "After that, the marks will take care of themselves. Winning is a high priority."
Paul Raymond '08, also a member of the reigning Ivy League champion football team, will chase another crown this weekend. The wide receiver-turned-sprinter is Brown's top athlete in the 60-meter dash. Raymond's currently has the second-fastest time in the conference in the shorter sprint event.
"We'll have to maximize on all potential points in order to finish where we want to as a team," Lake said.
Off the track, jumper Grant Bowen '07 and co-captain Jake Golenor '06 also head to Hanover as second seeds in the pole vault and shot put, respectively.
Golenor has ample backup in the throws, as Brown currently has five athletes ranked in the conference's top 15 in the shot put and three of the top 10 in the weight throw.
"We have three men with the potential to win the individual title in the shot put," Lake said. "Our weight throw squad is just as solid."
The two-day competition kicks off on Saturday at 10 a.m.
"After winning the (Jan. 28) Harvard-Cornell meet, we saw that we really can compete at the level that the Ivy League demands," Achilihu said. "We are going in with the mindset that it's time to take care of business."
