MEMPHIS, TN – In the second and final home meet of the season, the Men's Track & Field team had a standout day, placing sixth out of twenty scoring teams. Only four points out of third place, the Lynx beat conference rivals Sewanee, Millsaps, and Hendrix by sizable margins.

                Starting the day off on a strong note was the 4x100m relay of sophomore Kevin Stechler (Westborough, MA), senior Cory Dardenne (Kingwood, TX), senior Josh McMurray (College Grove, TN), and junior Greg Palm (Marrimack, NH). Placing 6^th overall in a time of 43.28 seconds, the team shaved .21 seconds off of their time from the previous meet. In other races, the 400m dash saw excellent performances from senior co –captains Greg Cook (Bellaire, TX) and Anson Purdy (Wesfield, NJ). The duo placed fourth and sixth – with Cook crossing the line in 50.36, and Purdy finishing close behind in 50.64.

                The mid-distance events saw incredible depth from the Rhodes team. In the 1500m, freshman Tyler Catterton (Memphis, TN), sophomore Cody Beatty (Lewisville, TX), junior Robert McMillan (Signal Mountain, TN, and junior Chris Moore (Southlake, TX) all finished less than four seconds apart in respective times of 4:13.81, 4:15.88, 4:16.50, and 4:17.74. The 800m run saw similar results with freshman Chris Hardy (Collierville, TN), junior Matt Jacobs (Houston, TX), and freshman Michael Ascuitto (New Orleans, LA) finishing only three seconds apart. Hardy's time of 1:59.24 was good enough to place him fifth out of thirty-nine competitors, with Jacobs placing ninth in 2:01.24.

                In a fitting parallel to the day's start – the 4x800m and 4x400m relays amassed a large number of points to conclude the strong performances in the running events. The 4x800m team of Moore, Purdy, Ascuitto and sophomore Dan Wolfe (Newton, MA) placed fifth in a time of 8:25.82, over seven seconds ahead of sixth place Principia College. The second 4x800m squad of freshman Matt Grisham (Germantown, TN), senior co-captain Colin Johnson (Aledo, TX), sophomore Will Hawes (Springfield, MO) and junior Will Hunt (Greenville, SC) also fared well, crossing the line in ninth place in a time of 8:42.57. In what was an incredibly exciting and competitive contest, the 4x400m relay of freshman Dan Sutherland (Highland Park, TX), Hardy, Catterton, and Cook ran an excellent race to place second only to Division II Harding University with a time of 3:25.20. Finishing very close behind was the second team of sophomore David Thomas (Baton Rouge, LA), Palm, Stechler, and freshman Josh Blount (Austin, TX); the foursome ran 3:27.31 to place fourth overall, edging Milwaukee School of Engineering by .24 seconds.

                The field events saw a standout performance by junior Andrew Maryott (East Dennis, MA). In the discus throw not only did he place second and establish a new personal record, but his throw of 155'5” (47.37m) qualified him for the NCAA National Championships and currently ranks him tenth in the country in Division III. Adding to his day was a sixth place finish in the hammer throw with a distance and a fifth place finish in the shot put, with respective distances of 153'8” (46.85m) and 44'4.25” (13.52m). Also performing well was Cook whose triple jump of 43'1” (13.13m) not only was a season's best, but placed him second – nearly a foot and a half better than the third place finisher. A more impressive margin of victory was his javelin throw of 187'11” (57.27m) a distance that bested the runner-up by over ten feet.  In the pole vault, senior Jeremy Moye (Ooltewah, TN) jumped a season best 13'3.5” (4.05m) to place fifth out of fourteen competitors, scoring valuable points for the team.

                At the day's end, it was a very successful meet for the Rhodes Track & Field team. Look for more outstanding performances from the Lynx as they travel to Washington University in St. Louis next weekend for the Washington University Invitational.