Jan. 30, 2010
Complete Results
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's track & field team won seven events, produced 10 IC4A qualifying-marks and set a pair of new facility records at the second annual Wesley A. Brown Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House. The non-scored invitational meet also included full squads from La Salle, Maryland and William & Mary.
The annual competition is held in honor of the building's namesake, Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Anthony Brown, USN (ret.), the first African American to graduate from the Naval Academy in 1949.
"I was very encouraged by our effort today," said Navy head coach Steve Cooksey. "We had a number of individuals raise their career-bests across a number of different events. Hopefully we can keep build off of today and bring that same energy and effort into next weekend and continue to get better as we move forward towards the league meet."
Navy put forth a strong showing in its final tune-up prior to next weekend's Army dual, with Chris Boniwell (So., San Diego, Calif.), Andrew Hanko (Jr., Montville, N.J.), Josh Houston (So., Daphne, Ala.), Paul Niedhardt (So., Lawrenceville, Ga.) and indoor team captain Mark Van Orden (Sr., Morris Plains, N.J.) all claiming individual victories.
Van Orden kept his perfect record in the 35-lb. weight throw in tact, recording his fifth victory of the winter with a winning toss of 60'1" (18.31 meters). It is the first meet this season in which he has surpassed 60' and the fifth time in as many meets in which he has raised his IC4A standing.
One of the most exciting developments of the afternoon for Navy came in the shot put, where Chris Boniwell, competing for just the second time this winter, took first with a PR toss of 50'4" (15.34 meters). The mark surpasses his previous best of 49'8" (15.14 meters) and ranks third in the Patriot League this season. Perhaps most important of all, Boniwell's return to form presents the Mids with a serious point-scoring threat in the shot put next weekend against the Black Knights and as the championship portion of the schedule nears.
Four of Navy's six individual wins came in field events as Paul Neidhardt won the pole vault and Josh Houston was the victor in the high jump. Neidhardt won with a career-best 15'3" (4.65 meters) clearance, the team's top effort this winter as well as its first over 15'. Houston, meanwhile, won on fewer misses after clearing 6'6.25" (1.99 meters).
The 5,000-meter run, the first running event of the afternoon, produced several notable efforts highlighted by Andrew Hanko's PR and new Wesley A. Brown Field House standard of 14:21.50. Hanko was one of three runners to come in under the previous standard in the event (14:25.84 by American's Carlos Jamieson on 2/21/09) and one of five Navy entrants to produce career-best IC4A times in the race.
Also producing qualifying marks were Matthew De Villers (14:25.45), James Pearson (14:36.93), Ross Hughes (14:40.07) and Chris Horel (14:41.82), who finished third, fourth, sixth and eighth, respectively.
A fast field in the 800 saw seven IC4A times and a new Field House standard set by William & Mary's Harry Miller with his first-place time of 1:50.83. Navy's David Ash ran out of gas late, but still managed to finish sixth in the event with a qualifying clip of 1:54.66.
The Tribe would notch a second facility standard in the 3,000 as Jon Grey ran a heady race on his way to clocking a full 6.23 seconds ahead of the previous mark (8:14.02 set by Georgetown's Dan Nunn on 1/24/09). In that same race, Navy's Michael Sheehan (So., Mt. Laurel, N.J.) ran a career-best and IC4A-qualifying 8:24.80 to place third. Navy would close out the meet strong, winning both the 4x400-meter and distance medley relays. In the 4x400, the foursome of Travis Fanning (Fr., Cypress, Texas), Alex Jackson (So., Elmhurst, Ill.), Lorenzo Armijo (Jr., Denver, Colo.) and Matthew Evers (So., Bellevue, Neb.) narrowly missed a team season-best mark by .04 seconds, but took first with an IC4A time of 3:19.68.
Meanwhile in the DMR, the tandem of Dominic Della Pelle (So., Kennett Square, Pa.), David Ash (Jr., Williamston, Mich.), Cody Rome (So., Eagle, Idaho) and Ken Bunnell (So., St. Johnsbury, Vt.) teamed up in taking down the existing Wesley A. Brown Field House standard with a time of 9:56.81, more than 12 full seconds ahead of the runner-up William & Mary squad.
Navy (7-1) will host its annual dual meet against service academy rival Army next Saturday at the Wesley A. Brown Field House, beginning at 11:00 am. It will mark the 51st indoor Star Meet contested between the two institutions. Navy holds a narrow 25-23-2 advantage in the all-time series, with a 16-8-2 edge in meets held in Annapolis.
## Go Navy! ##
