Huynh, Man win twice as Judges capture 2024 Poyau Memorial title

Women's Track and Field 1/13/2024 5:49:00 PM Adam Levin '94

Huynh, Man win twice as Judges capture 2024 Poyau Memorial title

WALTHAM, Mass. – Buoyed by nine total wins, the Brandeis University track and field teams opened their 2024 campaigns with success, as the women won and the men placed third overall at their lone home meet of the season, the Reggie Poyau '04 Memorial Invitational. The women finished with 129.5 points, 28 ahead of second-place Bates College, while the men were in third with 80 points, behind much larger squads from Bates (206) and RPI (174).

TOP PERFORMERS - WOMEN

The Judges had a pair of double winners, both on the women's side in field events. Senior Smiley Huynh (Bronx, N.Y./Bronx H.S. of Science) captured the pole vault with a height of 3.55 meters (11-7 ¾) and took the long jump with a distance of 5.05 meters (16-1 ¾), edging the runner-up from UMass Boston behind her second-best jump of 4.93 meters.
Also winning twice was junior Kirsten Man (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick), who captured a pair of jumping events. Man took the triple jump with a distance of 10.99 meters (36-0 ¾) achieved on her first jump of the season. First-year teammate Sophie Segal (Hartsdale, N.Y./Ardsley) was second with a distance of 10.21 meters (33-6). Man also won the high jump with a mark of 1.56 meters (5-1 ½), the only competitor to clear five feet on the day for the women.
In the 600-meter run, Brandeis had three scorers, with senior Olivia Zarzycki (Belmont, Mass./Belmont) earning the win in 1:42.89 by a margin of 0.16 seconds. Junior Hannah Bohbot-Dridi (Mountain View, Calif./Los Altos) was third in 1:43.11 and first-year Natalie Liapis (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) was fifth in 1:49.92.
The women's final win came in the 4x400-meter relay where the three 600 runners were joined by sophomore Ifigenia Oxyzolou (Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake), who just held off a charge from a Wellesley runner on the anchor leg to win with a time of 4:21.94.
The Judges also earned a host of points in the 3,000-meter run, taking five of the top seven spots. Junior transfer Anna Batelli (Oak Ridge, N.J./Jefferson Township) was second in 11:02.52; first-year Sadie Harrow (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) was third in 11:05.05 and sophomore Ella Warkentine (Malvern, Pa./Conestoga) took fourth in 11:08.00. Junior Zada Forde (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) and sophomore Katriona Briggs (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton) added sixth- and seventh-place finishes in 11:29.83 and 11:36.86, respectively.
Senior Alya Campbell (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) was a double scorer for the Judges as well, taking third in the 60-meter hurdles (9.45 seconds) and fifth in the 200-meter dash (27.55 seconds).

TOP PERFORMERS – MEN

The men had a trio of individual victories. In the 1,000-meter run, sophomore TJ Carleo (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) won by nearly a second and a half with a time of 2:34.03.
Senior Samuel Kim (La Jolla, Calif./Phillips Exeter (N.H.) ran away from the field in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:24.68, more than four seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Classmate Ori Slotky (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Regional) took third in the event with a time of 1:29.05. He was edged for second place by 0.01 seconds.
The 3,000-meter run was also a scoring bonanza for the men with five scoring performances. Senior Willem Goff (Pelham, Mass./Amherst Regional) earned the win by five-and-a-half seconds with a time of 9:15.97, besting junior Lucas Dia (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) who ran 9:21.51. He was just ahead of senior Henry Nguyen (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Vocational Tech), who ran 9:21.74. Sophomore Dylan Zhao (Staten Island, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) and junior Ethan Meilander (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) rounded out the scorers in the 3K in sixth and seventh with times of 9:50.67 and 9:56.62.
First-year Hugh Licklider (Newton, Mass./BC High) was outdueled by a Bates runner to take second in the mile run with a time of 4:28.85 in his first collegiate race. Classmate Deandrea Williams also scored in his first collegiate race with a time of 54.72 seconds in the 400, good for eighth place.
Sophomore TJ Showstead (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) earned a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles, turning in a finals time of 8.97 seconds after going 9.04 in the prelims.
The men's only points in a field event came from junior Lin Lin Hutchinson (Portland, Ore./Ida B. Wells), who took seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 11.77 meters (38-7 ½).
The men's 4x400-meter relay finished the day with a third-place finish, as the team of Slotky, first-year Sam Rosen (Dallas, Texas/Lakehill Preparatory School), Carleo and Kim placed third in a back-and-fourth race with RPI for the runner-up spot. The Brandeis team finished in 3:34.66.