Perfect weather in Princeton, NJ on the evening of Friday, April 22 helped a number of the CPTC mid-distance men run personal bests (or very close to them). Click here for full results.
Action started when Sean Atkinson ran an outdoor PB in the 800m of 1:51.31. Just short of his overall PB, this is the fastest Sean has opened any outdoor season. He will be looking to drop at least a second off that time at the University of Maryland Kehoe Twilight meet on May 6. On April 16, Sean dropped another 4 seconds off his 1500m PB, sneaking under four minutes in 3:59.94.
Next up was the 1500m, where Corey Wall was looking to to flirt with the 3:50 barrier. He came through 1200m in 3:03, but couldn’t quite hold that pace and finished in 3:50.52 (.32 short of his PB). The week before at Bucknell, he opened his outdoor season with an 800/400 double, running his fastest time in 5 years in both events (1:53.24 and 50.69). He will be joining Sean in the 800m on May 6.
A couple heats later, Victor Palumbo patiently waited in the middle of the pack until making a huge move to break open a 10m gap on the field. He eventually got caught in the home stretch, but hung on for 2nd place in a big PB of 3:54.90. Victor will be dropping down to the 800m next weekend at TCNJ.
Friday night closed with Eddie Mulder running a personal best in the 5000m (14:55.32). Eddie will have a quick turnaround, racing the 10k Thursday night at Penn Relays.
In Saturday action, both Jordy Smilde and Peter Brady opened their outdoor seasons with 1500s in 4:08.11 and 4:10.28, respectively.