On Saturday, the men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted Bryant University, Hartford College, Harvard, Providence College, the University of Rhode Island and Wesleyan University in the Brown Invitational. This was the teams’ last competition before next week’s Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships. In their final home meet of the season, the Bears put on a show for their fans, earning a cumulative 14 gold medals.
The men’s and women’s teams also each won their respective team competitions with the men’s team recording a total of 152 points and the women’s team racking up 172 total points.
According to Brooke Ury ’24, her coach whispered a reminder in her ears before she laced up for the 60-meter hurdles — “This is your home turf — show them this is your house.” Ury did just that, setting a new personal best and breaking a 30-year-old program record after crossing the finish line in 8.49 seconds. The previous record was set by Susan Smith ’93 in 1993 after her 8.50-second finish. Ury now ranks first in the team’s all-time leaderboard with the fastest indoor 60-meter hurdle in program history.
“I think we went into this with a lot of really high expectations, and we were able to meet them, if not surpass them,” Ury said. “We just hit this momentum that made us unstoppable.”
Bruno continued its season-long domination in the jumps, taking home gold medals in the men’s and women’s high, triple and long jumps. For the men’s team, the Bears’ efforts were spurred by Zach Love ’24, who won the long jump with a 6.92-meter leap and the triple jump with 13.55 meters.
“This was our last meet before (the) Ivy League Championships, so we are just trying to fine-tune some things,” Love said. “The goal for (Heptagonals) is the same as always: Run fast, jump far.”
Love’s performance was complemented by stellar performances from his teammates. John McNeil ’24 won the men’s high jump after clearing a height of 2.12 meters. Nene Mokonchu ’26 out-jumped her opponents in the women’s high jump, landing the top spot on the podium after surpassing 1.66 meters. The long and triple jumps were also successful for Bruno: Grace Desmond ’23 secured her gold medal after a 4.97-meter long jump and Daryn Davis ’24 did the same in the triple jump after an 11.60-meter finish.
“We had school records today, we had (personal bests) today (and) we had people tying their” personal bests, Head Coach Ken Hunt told The Herald following the meet. “Overall, what’s more important to go along with those performances is the energy. We are starting to see energy here that … just has not been here (before). And that’s the energy of winners.”
The Bears kept that energy high by showing off their speed, racing to victory in the men’s 60-meter dash. Solomon Miller ’26 finished in first place, crossing the finish line in 6.96 seconds. In a dominant performance, Bruno not only took home first, but second and third places in the race as well: JonCarlo Migaly ’24 and Daniel Sarisky ’25 both finished in under seven seconds, with times of 6.98 and 6.99 seconds, respectively.
Even with obstacles in the way, the Bears could not be stopped. Marcus Gillespie ’24 hurdled to victory in the men’s 60-meter dash after crossing the plane in 8.14 seconds.
Brown also cruised through the middle-distance races. Amy Willig ’23 led the pack in the women’s 500-meter, ascending to the top of the podium with a time of 1 minute, 17.49 seconds. The men’s mile saw Brown take home all three podium positions. John Farrell ’26 won the race in 4 minutes, 20.78 seconds. Geordie Young ’23 was a close second with a time of 4 minutes, 23.22 seconds and Justin Hickey ’25 was right behind him, crossing the finish line in 4 minutes, 24.14 seconds.
Bruno also excelled in the 3000-meter run, with both the men’s and women’s teams taking home the gold.
Gabe Cannavo ’23 paced himself at the beginning of the race, following close behind two Hartford runners. Around seven minutes into the race, he put on the burners, overtaking both Hartford runners and propelling himself into first place. Within the next 40 seconds, he lapped two other runners. After an intense 9 minutes, 5.27 seconds, Cannavo crossed the finish line to earn first place.
Grace Dorantes ’23 did the same on the women’s side. Gliding past the finish line in 10 minutes, 17.79 seconds, Dorantes not only defeated the rest of her heat but also set a new personal best.
The track and field teams will now prepare for next weekend’s Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships at Dartmouth. “The most important thing that’s going to benefit us next week as a team,” Hunt said looking ahead to the weekend, is “having that right energy.”
Lydell Dyer is a Senior Staff Writer for the sports section. A sophomore hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he's not off "making words sound pretty," you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.
