A large squad of Mammoths travelled to the Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships, which were held at the Birmingham Metro CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. The trip south was highlighted by the seventh-place finish of Kristian Sogaard ’19 in the 800 meter, an achievement that garnered him his second All-American honor.
The Mammoths were both one of five men’s teams to qualify both the 4x400 and medley relays for the meet and the only NESCAC team in the 4x400 meter relay, let alone both events.
The weekend action started for the Mammoths in the preliminaries of the 800-meter run, where Sogaard ran a well-executed race, crossing the finish line in second place with a time of 1:52.4. The junior sat in second for the majority of the race and responded to late-race surges by other competitors with a sprint to the finish line that earned him a spot in Saturday’s final.
Sogaard returned to the track for the preliminaries of the 4x400-meter relay, in which the Mammoths matched their 10th seed entering the tournament to place 10th in the preliminary round with a fourth-place finish in their heat.
David Ingraham ’18 once again led off for the Mammoths, matching his split from the Tufts Last Chance meet with a time of 50.8 and passing off to Ryan Prenosil ’21 in fourth. The first-year standout split 49.7 and handed the baton off to Vernon Espinoza ’19, who also matched his split from Tufts Last Chance with a 49.0 leg.
Espinoza handed off to Sogaard, who anchored in 49.3 seconds to bring the team across the line in fourth with a time of 3:18.97, narrowly faster than their time of 3:19.25 at the Tufts Last Chance meet.
“We had a bad day and didn’t race to our potential, but overall we had a good time,” Espinoza said.
Though the Mammoths did not qualify for the event’s finals, the relay has great potential for this outdoor season and seasons to come, as Ingraham is the only member of the relay who will be graduating this year.
The last event on Friday for the Mammoths was the distance medley relay, in which the Mammoths placed ninth, just outside of All-American honors which are awarded to the top-eight finishers in each event.
The relay kept the same order as Tufts Last Chance, with Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’20 leading off in the 1,200-meter leg and handing off to Ralph Skinner ’20 for the 400-meter leg in 11th place.
Skinner ran a solid 400 leg, moving up one position to hand off to Jacob Silverman ’19 in 10th place and in contact with the main pack. Silverman held the team’s position during his 800-meter leg and handed off to Cosmo Brossy ’19 in 10th, a few meters behind the main pack.
Brossy quickly caught up to the main pack and held the team’s position in ninth across the line, less than one second out of All-American honors and just behind NESCAC rival Tufts. The future for the distance medley relay is also bright, as the Mammoths were one of three teams in the field that did not have a senior on the relay.
Sogaard started the second day of action for the Mammoths with his seventh-place All-American finish in the 800. The junior was in seventh with a lap to go but was unable to pass competitors, ultimately finishing with a time of 1:55. This is Sogaard’s second career All-American honor, as he placed sixth at last year’s outdoor nationals in the same event.
Brossy wrapped up the action for the Mammoths with a 10th-place finish in the 3,000 meters, improving upon his 15th seeding. The junior returned to the track after anchoring the distance medley relay and set a new personal best with a time of 8:24.10. Impressively, Brossy had also qualified in the 5,000-meter run but chose to run the medley relay with teammates instead, as both events were contested on Friday night.
The Mammoths now look to the outdoor track season, which will begin on Saturday, March 31 at the Tufts Snowflake Classic. The team made huge improvements this indoor season and looks to contend at the NESCAC championship meet on April 27.
