May 4, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Santa Clara track team spent Friday afternoon in Sacramento competing in the Sacramento State Open as a warm up for the Independent Track Championships, which will be held in Davis the weekend of May 12-13. The Broncos had a number of strong performances, led by junior Mike Delaurenti in the men's 1500m and sophomore Veronica Vazquez in the women's 1500m.
On the women's side, Vazquez was the first Bronco finisher in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:45.82. Right behind her was freshman Shanthi Blanchard, who had a personal best in that distance at 4:48.32. Adriane Puetz (4:59.16), Danielle Miller (4:59.96) and Whitney Porter (5:12.60) rounded out the Broncos participants in the 1500m.
In the shortest distance for the women, seniors Blossom Marimpietri and Lauren Swigart ran in the 800 for SCU and had times of 2:30.49 and 2:38.82. The pair also ran the 3000 meters, finishing three-hundreds of a second apart at 11:17.96 for Swigart and 11:17.99 for Marimpietri.
In the relays, the Broncos had a second place finish in the 4x400 meter relay. The team of Blanchard, Joanna Gistand, Carrie Pogorelc and Porter finished with a time of 4:24.46.
SCU had just one competitor in the field events as sophomore Brittany Hodill competed in the high jump. She finished fourth with a jump of 1.48 meters.
On the men's side, Delaurenti continued his outstanding track season with a strong performance at the 1500 meter distance. He finished sixth with a sub-4:00 time of 3:58.86. Three more Broncos also competed at the same distance led by Stephen Koch's 4:07.50. John Howard and Vinod Kamath finished in 4:21.88 and 4:36.39 respectively.
In the 3000m, juniors A.J. Blumel and Chris Gumbs placed sixth and seventh respectively with times of 9:02.07 and 9:02.39. Freshman Andy Backus had a personal best in the race of 9:19.94 and finished in 13th place.
In the shorter distances, SCU had some strong performances as well. Sophomore Chris Furnari finished fourth in the 800m with a time of 1:56.02. The race also included seven other Broncos, Jay Cadwell (2:01.89), John Laughlin (2:01.89), Mike Delaurenti (2:01.94), Omar Ahmad (2:02.49), Ben Synder (2:03.64), T.J. Watterson (2:08.86) and Howard (2:10.81).
SCU had three sophomores in the 100m, 200m and 400m races. George Sanchez had a time of 11.70 in the 100m, while Greg Stettler had a time of 24.29 in the 200m. Greg Brown closed out the sprints with a time of 52.73 in the 400.
In the lone men's relay by Santa Clara, Derek Brown, Seamus Crowley, Furnari and Sanchez won the race with a time of 44.88.
For complete results, click here.
