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Duffy, O'Brien and Seymour Win Individual Titles as Men's Track Finishes Third; Centrowitz Named PL Coach of the Year
AU claims three of top four in 1500m and top two in 5000m

May 3, 2003 | Results

Sean Duffy won his second consecutive 1500m PL Championship.

LEWISBURG, Pa. — Entering athletes in only nine events at the Patriot League Championships, the American University men's track and field team finished third overall. Sean Duffy repeated as 1500-meters champion as the Eagles took three of the top four in the event and Matt Seymour defended his crown in the 5000m. Sean O'Brien won the 800m as he qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships. Duffy, O'Brien and Phil Gaeta all qualified for the regional meet in the 1500m and Seymour's win qualified him in the 5000m. Head coach Matt Centrowitz was named Patriot League Coach of the Year for the third time for the remarkable performance by his squad.

Carlos Hunt finished third for AU in the 3000m steeplechase, running 9:16.06 to move to second all-time. Andy Ellerhorst finished fifth in the 400m dash for the Eagles.

In one of the highlighted events of the meet, Duffy took the early lead in the 1500m with O'Brien right behind and Gaeta in fourth behind Lou Palma of Bucknell. Phil Sakala of Army ran right with the pack. Duffy led the pack through the first lap in 59 seconds.

Duffy continued to lead with Sakala and Palma behind him. Gaeta and O'Brien ran in fourth and fifth. O'Brien took the lead just befor the end of the second lap as the pack came through the second lap in 63 seconds. Duffy followed and Gaeta moved up into third.

O'Brien pulled away as he made his move with a lap to go. However, Duffy was able catch his teammate in the final 100m and win the race in 3:45.66. O'Brien finished second in 3:46.14. Sakala was able to outkick Gaeta in the final stretch to take third as Gaeta ran 3:48.12.

In the 800m, Michael Edwards ran in the first heat for the Eagles. He put himself in the mix of the pack through the first lap in 59 seconds. Edwards made his move on the outside with 150m remaining and pulled away from the field in the final straightaway to win his heat in 2:00.68.

Duffy and O'Brien were in the fastest heat of the afternoon in the 800m. Reginald Clay from Lafayette took the early lead as Bucknell's Eric Furst was in second. Duffy sat in third as O'Brien was at the back of the pack. Furst took the lead as Duffy and O'Brien moved up as they crossed the line in 57 seconds.

Duffy took the pace on the backstretch as O'Brien moved into second and Sakala into third. O'Brien moved outside in the final 100m and pulled away for the win, running 55 seconds for the last lap to finish in 1:52.94. Duffy finished in fifth in the heat and sixth overall in 1:54.30.

In the 5000m, Seymour ran quickly to the lead as Pat MacAdie ran in the large pack following Seymour of 11 runners. Seymour led the pack through the mile in 4:37 while MacAdie ran 4:39. Xavier de Boissezon took the lead at the mile mark and led the pack through the next lap as the pace slowed and a group of eight runners bunched together.

Louie DiNuzzo of Colgate took the lead six laps in as the pack was down to seven. Seymour reclaimed the lead a lap later and began to put some distance on the field. DiNuzzo and Lehigh's Rob Hampson attempted to cover the move as MacAdie moved into fourth. Seymour ran a 4:46 second mile as he began to lengthen his lead.

Seymour continued to pull away as he lengthened his lead to almost 50 meters. MacAdie moved into second, passing DiNuzzo and Hampson. Seymour and MacAdie continued to run well in first and second place as Seymour ran a 4:33 mile to win the race in 14:30.58 and MacAdie ran 14:42.23 for second as he moved to sixth all-time at AU.

Running in the first event of the day, Hunt started off in the lead pack of the 3000m steeplechase. Aaron Smead of Army and Bryan Johnston of Bucknell led as Hunt sat behind the leaders. As Hunt sat behind the leaders, Smead made a move that Hunt and Johnston were able to cover.

With three laps to go, Smead attempted to drop the Hunt and Johnston. Hunt stayed with Smead while Johnston ran just off the pace. Finally, with one lap to go, Smead made a strong move and pulled away as Hunt and Johnston gave chase. Johnston overtook Hunt, but Hunt ran strong to the finish to place third in the second-fastest time in AU history.

Ellerhorst ran in lane two for the 400m dash. He was out in 23 seconds for the first 200m and came off the turn with the pack as he placed fifth in 49.32. In the 200m final, Ellerhorst ran out of lane one and placed seventh in 22.33.

In the final event of the meet, the AU 4x400m relay ran holding a six point lead over Lehigh for third place. Chris Buerger ran an excellent first leg for AU, handing off in 49.9 seconds in third place. Ellerhorst took the baton for the Eagles and closed on the leaders, running 48.7 to keep AU in third.

Ed Topolewski ran in a pack of four runners down the backstretch. Toopolewski fought off the challengers and ran 49.3 to keep the Eagles in third place. Gaeta ran a tough leg of 48.92 seconds as the Eagles finished fourth in the race in the second-fastest time in school history of 3:17.18.

AU finished third with 84 points while Army won the team title. The third place finish is especially impressive for the Eagles, as American only competed in nine of the 21 events at the meet.

Following the Patriot League Championships, the Eagles will compete at the JMU Invitational next weekend.