The men and women’s track and field teams returned with a bang at the University of Southern Maine Open, enjoying a slew of strong finishes at the non-scoring meet. The Judges picked up six wins across the meet in their first action since the University of Massachusetts Boston Invitational in early December. 

The squads began the day with matching victories in the 4x200 meter relay, with the women recording a time of one minute, 51.71 seconds and the men stopping the clock at the 1:36.28 mark. The women also ran to a 4:25.24 finish with the A squad in the 4x400 meter relay, while the men’s A squad was three seconds behind the Southern Maine side with a 3:36.09 time.  

The Judges picked up a number of individual victories as well on the day. Doyin Ogundiran ’19 notched a victory in the women’s 600-meter race with a time of 1:47.60. Brad Payne ’17 took the top spot in the men’s 800-meter run in 2:11.95. His time was a step ahead of Trevor Tuplin’s ’16 finish of 2:12.00. Ryan Stender ’18 picked up a three-second win in the men’s 3000-meter run in 9:01.20. 

Adam Berger ’16 produced a pair of strong finishes on the day, earning third in the men’s long jump and second in the triple jump. He registered 6.17 meters in the long jump, just one tenth of a meter out of second place, and totaled 12.71 meters in the triple jump. Maddie Dolins ’17 earned second place in the women’s one-mile run with a time of 5:21.13. 

The men sent five competitors to the one-mile run, where Mitchell Hutton ’18 paced the group in 4:24.12, good for a fourth-place finish. Brian Sheppard ’18 crossed the line at 4:30.98, while Quinton Hoey ’17 followed with a 4:36.65 placement. Liam Garvey ’18 ran to a 4:38.43 finish in eighth place while Christian Castro ’18 matched his personal-best with 4:51.41 finish in 12th place. 

Haliana Burhans ’18 managed a 1:04.53 race in the women’s 400-meter dash, earning third place in the race. Her time was just over two seconds out of second place and four seconds off the pace of the race’s top finish. Ramani Daymon ’19 closed the race at the 1:08.64 mark, earning an eighth-place finish at the meet.

The Judges got high marks in the men’s 600-meter race as Matt Becker ’16 took third in 1:26.09 and Jeremy Wilson ’17 followed in fourth place with a 1:30.28 time. The Judges continued to turn in strong times in the distance races with seven competitors in the 800-meter runs.

Tove Freeman ’16 grabbed the runner-up spot in the women’s 800-meter run in 2:41.58, a step ahead of Aubrey Clemens’s ’19 time of 2:45.23. Clemens earned a fourth-place finish with her effort. On the men’s side, Payne and Tuplin took the top two spots, while Josh Romanowicz ’17 stopped the timer at the 2:19.40 mark. Maddox Kay ’19 earned a 2:21.29 finish, while Brandon Odze ’16 finished the race at 2:30.61.

Grady Ward ’16 earned third in the men’s 1000-meter run in 2:39.03, while Kanya Brown ’19 took fourth in the women’s 200-meter dash in 27.88 seconds.

Abby Daniels ’19 took home a top-five finish in the women’s pole vault, topping out at 2.45 meters. Mark Franklin ’17 rounded out the day with a third-place finish in the men’s high jump at 1.78 meters.

The Judges return to action this Saturday when they host the Reggie Poyau Memorial in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, beginning at 11 a.m. The race was named in memory of Reggie Poyau ’04.

The squads will also run in regional meets at Harvard University, Boston University and Tufts University this month, with the University Athletic Association Championships scheduled for late February.