Men's Track Team Thrives On Tobacco Road
By Carson Gardner

After coming out of the blocks quickly following a good showing at the Wake Forest Invitational, the Boston University outdoor track team took a trip a little farther down "Tobacco Road" last weekend, participating in the Duke Invitational.

The two-day meet gave the team a chance to see how it had progressed during the off-season, as the team battled the face of tough national competition such as the Universities of Michigan, Virginia and Georgetown.

"Having big-time schools like Georgetown, Michigan and Duke there really got up pumped up," said junior distance runner Jordan Jones. "We were really motivated to do well."

Senior co-captain Brian Irwin got the Terriers off to a good start Friday in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal best of 55.04. His time was good enough for fourth-best of the day.

Junior Matt Adler ran a personal best as well, continuing the Terriers success with a 21.74 time in the 200 meters, despite the cold temperatures and bad conditions at the meet.

"Weather will always have a factor in the race, but you are still competing against other people, so the fastest will come through," Adler said.

His third-place finish was just ahead of fellow Terrier Chris Brandon, who placed fifth. Adler also anchored the 4x400 relay team. His split of 47.4 was the fastest on a team that finished in fourth place.

The Terriers' strongest showings were in distance races. Jones, senior Paul Ryan and junior Robert Wong each set personal bests in the two-mile race. Jones' time of 14:31 shattered his previous record by 14 seconds. His time was also good enough to land him in 10th place and qualified him to run in the IC-4A championships in May.

"We've just been working really hard. Coach has us prepared and running really well," Jones said.

The Terriers' best effort of the meet was turned in by junior Jochen Dieckfross in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He took the rest of the field by storm with a quick start, and he never looked back. His mark of 8:51 was yet another personal best for the Terriers, as he won the race handily by almost 21 seconds. As with Jones, he too qualified for the IC-4A championships with his effort.

In the field events, the Terriers struggled mightily. Despite senior Brian Irwin's best efforts, he was unable to crack the top 10 in the javelin. His throw, just shy of 177 feet, placed him 14th. Senior Chris Ferrara could not do any better than 16th in either the shot put or the discus.

While the men were at Wake Forest, the women were just a short drive down the road in Chapel Hill. Senior distance runners Katie Ireland and Lauren Matthews continued to run well as they both placed in the top 10 in the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters, respectively. Though the women's team did not do as well as it had hoped coming off of its America East Indoor Championship, the team still turned in a solid effort.

The team gets a short rest this weekend before heading to the University of New Hampshire on April 20.