Freshman Naseem Smith wins 60-meter hurdle in track season debut

The indoor track season kicked off on Saturday at Cornell Greg Page Relays in Ithaca. In his debut collegiate track meet, freshman Naseem Smith placed first in the men’s 60-meter hurdles after clocking in at 8.14 seconds. Smith was trailed by Jamil Adams (8.32), who finished in second place.

In addition for the men’s team, the Orange finished the 4×800-meter relay in 8:13.95 minutes, placing second behind Cornell. The relay team consisted of Chase Balick, Ryan Jermyn, James Proctor and Connor Preston. Balick also raced in the 500-meter, in which he timed a 1:10.60 and earned himself eighth place, while Austin Rucker (1:08.34) placed ahead at third.

The Orange women’s team saw more triumph in Ithaca, with two freshmen attaining first place. Shaleah Colaire (8.54) won the 60-meter hurdles and Dennisha Page (7.50) for the 60-meter dash. Senior Aviana Goode (8.74) lagged behind Colaire and placed third in the 60-meter hurdles, while Aja Davis (7.56), a fellow freshman, placed second right behind Page in the 60-meter dash. 

Sarah Eddy (1:21.79) also showed a strong performance by placing third in the 500-meter race for the Orange, and for long distance, Kate Kemnitz (10:31.81) placed second in 3000-meter dash. 

Splitting their roster in two, the Orange also ran in the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University. SU ran long distance races, but didn’t perform as well as it did in Ithaca, with Jordan Jacob (16:28.27) placing 24th in the women’s 5000-meter and Alex Comerford (14:25) placing seventh in the third section out of five for the men’s section of the 5000-meter race.  

Both teams will not participate in any events for over a month, but will be back at Ithaca for the Southern Tier Collegiate Open on Jan. 11.