The AU indoor track and field teams came away with a strong weekend at the George Mason Patriot Games Jan. 28, finishing the event with eight top 10 finishes.
Olsen leads Eagles with strong performance in mile
Josh Olsen set the tone for AU on the day, when he posted a personal-best time of 4:14.76 in the mile to defeat George Mason University’s Alex Zyryanov.
Olsen has been running well of late, as he finished second in his last mile run at the Maryland Invitational with a time of 4:19.01.
Olsen wasn’t alone in the top 10. In the 37-man race, AU’s Mark Leininger (4:20.93) and Constantine Matsakis (4:21.95) finished eighth and 10th, respectively.
Ian Lutz (11th, 4:22.78), John Pope (12th, 4:23.19), Tom Woermer (13th, 4:23.29) and Ryan Williams (14th, 4:24.10) crossed the finish line directly after Matsakis.
Mark Allen finished 19th at 4:30.15, making it eight Eagles to finish in the top 20.
In the 4x800 meter relay, the team of Cameron Olia, Anthony Rowe, Greg Lush and Zach Weinstein won the event with a time of 8:58.32.
Sullivan and Staver reach record books, Birkhold wins
Julia Sullivan finished in fourth place in the 1,000-meter run, and her time of 3:03.82 was good for the eighth best time in program history.
Charlotte Staver also made an impact on the AU record book. Her time of 2:27.30 placed her eighth in the 800-meter run and gave her the 10th best time in Eagle history.
The 3,000-meter event saw Carly Birkhold emerging victorious and posting a time of 10:36.39. Jenna Rieling finished 11th out of 21 with a time of 11:22.99.
The win is the first of the season for Birkhold, after she recorded a second-place time at the Navy Invitational and a sixth-place finish at the Maryland Invitational.
Ali Tyburski came in second in the mile run, finishing with a time of 5:11.80. The event also saw Rachael Wolff coming in at the 5:34.55 mark, good for 13th out of 37 runners.
AU will be back in action next weekend when they head to New York, N.Y., for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational Feb. 3-4.
Following the event, the Eagles will prepare for the Patriot League Championships Feb. 17-19 in Lewisburg, Pa.
The Eagles will look to improve last year’s showing at the PL Championships, when the men finished fifth and the women eighth.
