Feb. 23, 2013
Complete Results
COLLEGEVILLE, PA - Leading Haverford by one point heading into the 4x400-meter relay, the Johns Hopkins men's track & field team knew it needed to finish ahead of the Fords to secure its first Centennial Conference championship in program history.
The race seemed in doubt after senior Robert Martin courageously limped to the finish line at the first exchange with a pulled hamstring, but the team of Collin Rozanski, Colin O'Connor and Andrew Carey managed to finish in second place - three places ahead of Haverford.
The Blue Jays' scored 168 points in the meet to finish five points ahead of runner-up Haverford. The Fords had won 12 of the last 13 conference meets. Ursinus placed third with 94 points.
Sophomore Alexander Naticchia had strong individual performances in the long jump and 200-meter dash, earning big points for the Jays. Naticchia took first place in the long jump with a leap of 6.76 meters, two hundredths of a meter better than Chris Rountree of Ursinus. He also took second place in the 200, notching a time of 23.06.
Alex Jebb had an outstanding meet, competing in five events - including the heptathlon - to score 25 points for the Jays. The junior finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 13.25m. He also led a throng of Hopkins athletes in the heptathlon with a second place finish (4,052 points). Following in his wake were teammates Micheal Spadaro (3rd - 4,046 points), Ryan Walsh (4th - 3,925 points) and Devin Conley (6th - 3,553 points).
Also finishing in second place was junior Colin Rozanski, who turned in a personal record time of 51.30 for Hopkins. Meanwhile, Paul Vozzo was runner-up in the pole vault with a mark of 4.10m, as the 4x400-meter relay team finished second.
Hopkins was also the beneficiary of a number of third place finishes, including performances from Max Robinson and Walsh. Robinson finished just ahead of teammate Schaffer Ochstein with a time of 15:01.21 in the 5,000 meters, while Walsh leapt 1.85 meters in the high jump.
The Blue Jays will use the ECAC Championships next weekend in New York as their final opportunity to qualify athletes for the NCAA Championships the following weekend in Naperville, IL March 8 and 9.
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