Heading into the first slate of the two-day Widener Invitational at Widener University Friday, Alex Izewski had never run a timed 10-kilometer race on the track in his life.
His 10k debut ended in victory for the sophomore, as Izewski paced the field with a 31 minute, 45 second finish.
“The race went off and someone was in front of me for about 250 meters,” Izewski said. Then I took over and was in the lead for the entire thing. I was a little antsy from the get-go and my first 2 or 3 miles were a little fast, which kind of hurt me time wise in the end. But what I wanted to do in this race was run an actual 10k on the track for our conference meet in a couple weeks.”
While the sophomore distance runner snagged a win, muggy weather conditions a few hours before incoming thunderstorms made for a slow, grueling race all around.
“[Meet officials] said if it there was any sign of lightning, they would shoot the gun and run the race Saturday,” Izewski said. “They were just trying to get the race over with and it was a little windy but it was very humid. The time wasn’t reflective on what I can do in the 10k especially with my training. I realized about two miles in that the time wasn’t going to be ideal here and I think in two weeks I’m going to have a lot of people with me and work with all of those guys the whole race.”
In other notable men’s action Friday, sophomore distance runner Cullen Davis checked in with a fifth-place, 14:57.16 performance in the 3k.
Freshman thrower Elan Jackson tossed a 12.09-meter throw in the shotput, good for ninth-place. Freshman thrower Kyle Davis put up a 42.58-meter performance in the discus throw and a seventh-place finish.
Day two of the Widener Invite Saturday saw a top finish from junior sprinter Lionel Wilson among other notable performances, as Wilson took the top spot in the 400 meter dash at 48.91 seconds.
Junior jumper Carlton Stafford took home Temple’s second and final gold medal, taking a share of the top spot in the long jump with a leap of 6.47 meters. Freshman jumper Jamal Williams followed up Stafford with a third-place finish in the event, putting up a 6.38-meter jump in taking the bronze.
Wilson, Stafford and graduate senior Allan Harding took second, third and fifth in the 200 meter dash with times of 22.09, 22.11 and 22.80 seconds, respectively.
Freshman jumper Kevin Caporiccio took silver with his 1.85-meter height in the high jump, while freshman thrower Michael Deitzler hurled a 53.60-meter mark in the javelin thow for a fifth-place finish. Freshman thrower Dimitri Drossopoulos took sixth behind Deitzler with a throw of 52.63 meters.
Junior sprinter Tyreece Clayton and Williams crossed at 11.41 and 11.50 seconds in the 100 meter dash, placing eighth and 14th, respectively. Junior distance runner Will Kellar turned in a 1:55.94, eighth-place performance in the 800, while freshman hurdler Blair Alston checked in with a seventh-place, 57.19 second performance in the 400 meter hurdles.
The Owls turned in three top finishes and silver medals each as a team for the weekend.
The Owls will take part in the 119th annual Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania Thursday through Saturday, April 25-27, in their final regular season tune-up before championship season kicks off with the Atlantic 10 Championship meet May 4-5.
Andrew Parent can be reached at andrew.parent@temple.edu or on twitter @daParent93.
Be the first to comment