Over the weekend, the men and women’s track and field teams struggled during the highly-competitive Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Indoor Championships at the 168th Street Armory Track. The competition pits the best athletes from each team in a variety of conferences against each other.

NYU sent 13 Violets to the championships — six from the men’s squad and seven from the women’s. Over the two-day competition, the men’s team finished in 25th out of 56, while the women’s squad took 49th out of 60. The men scored 11 points in three events, putting them 31 points behind first-place Amherst College. In four events, the women scored five points, 56 behind Buffalo State College for the top spot.

The men’s team competed in the pole vault and the distance medley relay on day one of the championships, where senior Tom Longabaugh had his best performance of the season. He finished in sixth out of 21 competitors, setting a new personal best of 4.52 meters and breaking his previous top mark of 4.50.

Seniors Sebastian Oja and Zac Kish and sophomores Budd Brown and Nick Karam competed in the distance medley relay against 12 teams and came in second place with a time of 10:09:26.

On day two of the championships, Kish and junior Max Avila took part in the 800-meter run, finishing in ninth and 10th, respectively. Kish barely beat his teammate, clocking in ahead of Avila by three-tenths of a second at 1:55.34.

In the women’s competition, only junior sprinter Kristina Harris, who participated in the 60-meter dash, raced on day one. Coming off a second-place finish in the same race the week before in the UAA Indoor Championships, Harris placed 32nd out of 35 racers in the tougher competition.

Senior Caroline Spring led the way on day two, posting a season best 1:18.72 in the 500-meter dash for a fifth-place finish. The time was only 1.3 seconds off of the NYU record that she set last year.

The Violets also had strong performances in the 800-meter run. Freshman Ireland Gibson came in eighth out of 20 competitors with a personal best of 2:17.75, just short of an NYU record. Junior Sarah Sisk placed in 13th with a time of 2:21.66, but felt she was capable of a better performance.

“I’m coming off an injury from the end of cross country season that really set me back in my training this season,” Sisk said.

Senior Alyssa Binczyk and juniors Becky Turlip and Lily Corsaro also competed in the championships. Corsaro participated in the 3,000-meter run, placing 17th out of 25 while setting a season-high time of 10:30.42. Binczyk and Turlip took part in the mile run, respectively finishing in 18th and 21st out of 27.

Turlip said she knew the competition would be stiff. However, she noticed that the participants always show good sportsmanship.

“Unlike with some other meets during the season, at ECACs when you’re put in a race you know the others around you are just as fast or faster,” Turlip said. “You can relate with the other runners, because you know they must have put in just as much work as you in order to get there.”

The women’s next competition will take place on March 20 in Tampa, Florida. The men’s team will compete beforehand in the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships on March 13 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, March 9 print edition. Email Jonathan Schifman at [email protected].