Feb. 6, 2010

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Sophomore distance runner Adam Vess (Cromwall, Conn.) of the Marist men's track and field team finished in fourth place in the 3,000-meter run at the New Balance Collegiate meet at the NYC Armory on Saturday. The meet draws a national following as runners from the Big XII, BIG EAST, Ivy League, ACC and SEC finished in the top 10 in the event.

Vess' time was 8:08.99 as he crossed the finish line .02 seconds ahead of Columbia's Kyle Merber. His time qualifies him for the IC4A Championship, but just misses the NCAA Provisional cut, which is set at 8:05.00.

During the race, Vess ran negative splits. This means that his 1,000-meter splits got progressively faster as the race went on. In the first 1,000 meters his split was 2:45.00, his second 1,000 split was 2:42.90 and his final 1,000 meters were run in 2:41.09. Vess used a time of 29.09 in the final 200 meters to finish in fourth place.

Two other runners competed at the meet as well. Senior Colin Frederickson (Albany, N.Y.) ran to a time of 52.36 seconds in the 400-meter dash, while classmate Matthew Janczyk (Bristol, Conn.) ran in the 1,000-meter event and finished with a time of 2:36.19.

Marist will return to action on Feb. 12-13 in the Valentine Invitational at Boston University.

3,000-Meter Run Top 10 Finshers
1 Schwab, Kevin Oklahoma 8:05.02
2 Beamish, Hugo Villanova 8:06.56
3 Mildenhall, Mathew Villanova 8:07.96
4 Adam Vess Marist 8:08.99
5 Merber, Kyle Columbia 8:09.01
6 Ogden, Nathan Brigham Young 8:10.48
7 Kotter, Jon Brigham Young 8:11.75
8 Sauvageau, Joseph Texas A&M 8:16.06
9 McDermott, Ryan Duke 8:21.28
10 Spooner, Michael Tennessee 8:22.95

Colin Frederickson: 400 meters, 52.36
Matt Janczyk: 1000 meters, 2:36.19