The NYU men’s track and field team competed for the first time since the winter break in the Metropolitan Indoor Championships, held on the team’s alumni days, Feb. 5 and 6, hosted by Fordham University at Armory Track and Field Center. The Violets finished in 10th place with a total of 29.5 points, while Division I Rutgers took home first place with 167 points.

On the first day of the event, senior Thomas Longabaugh tied his indoor personal best in the pole vault, managing a 4.35 meter jump and placing fourth overall. Sophomore Nick Hespe also placed with a height of 4.05 meters.

In the weight-throwing competition, sophomore Carter Beardsley achieved a personal best of 12.06 meters to get 12th place. At the end of the first day, the Violets, the only DIII school in the competition, were in fifth place with a total of 5.5 points.

The Violets placed 11th and 12th in the 5,000-meter race with times of 15:35.15 and 15:37.37 from senior Johnny Lake and sophomore Jorge Maldonado.

“The team performed well against some tough local competition, including mostly DI schools,” Lake said. “In particular, the men’s distance medley relay had a great race, posting one of the top times this year in DIII indoor track. Sophomore Budd Brown was also less than .1 of a second from breaking a school record in the 500-meter run.”

The distance medley relay squad of freshmen Max Mudd and Malcolm Montilus, junior Max Avila and senior Sebastian Oja was .41 seconds away from victory. Oja was able to keep up with DI athletes from Columbia University and Fordham University, and he came within a few inches of finishing ahead of Brian Cook, the leader from Fordham.

While their showing at the championship was not dominant, their record shows that the Violets are improving as their season continues. Sophomore Nick Karam improved his indoor mile time by more than three seconds with a time of 4:21.55 and placed seventh. Other notable performances came from freshmen Jordan Reyes and Sam Praveen who finished 17th and 18th with times of 4:37.85 and 4:41.63 respectively.

Brown won the 500-meter preliminary heat with a personal best time of 1:04.98. Brown placed fourth and scored five points for the team. In the 4×400-meter relay, sophomore Chevaun Samuels, freshman Vince Booth and senior Steve Cmic finished sixth with a time of 3:28.54. Sophomore Anthony Zeng scored for the team in the shot put with a distance of 13.8, good enough for eighth place. Junior Matthew Powers set a season-best time in the 60 meters with a time of 7.17, earning 10th place.

The Violets will be back in action on Friday and Saturday this week at the Boston University Valentine’s Invitational, which they will use to get ready for UAA championships. Lake and the rest of the Violets are looking forward to it.

“The team is gearing up for a big meet at the Boston University Valentine’s Invitational this coming weekend,” Lake said. “We hope to be reaching peak form in a few weeks when we travel to Chicago to compete at the UAA Championships.”

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Feb. 10 print edition. Email Kyle Luther at [email protected].