Story Links BOSTON, MA – Early and Often. As in, the record-breaking performances for the Johns Hopkins men’s indoor track and field team started early and happened often at the David Heremy Invitational at Boston University on Friday. When the day concluded for the Jays in the late afternoon, they capped their record-setting day with one […]
BOSTON, MA – Early and Often.
As in, the record-breaking performances for the Johns Hopkins men’s indoor track and field team started early and happened often at the David Heremy Invitational at Boston University on Friday. When the day concluded for the Jays in the late afternoon, they capped their record-setting day with one of the top individual performances in Division III history.
It didn’t take long, just 49:08 to be exact, for the Blue Jays to send the team’s historian scrambling to find the record book as sophomore Spencer Ye shattered an eight-year-old program record in the 400-meter dash with that mark. Ye’s mark was good for 17th-place in a 117-man field that included runners from all three NCAA Divisions and multiple unattached runners from elite running clubs.
Just over an hour later, it was junior Fisayo Omonije’s turn to etch his name in the record book, this time after covering 800- meters in 1:53.53. Ominje’s time ranks third in Johns Hopkins history and is the fastest by a Blue Jay in the event since 2014.
It was just a week ago that sophomore Alex Colletti became the first runner in program history to break the 22-second mark in the 200-meter dash when he clocked in at 21.87 at the FastTrack Invitational. The next time he toed the line in the event – today – he broke the 22-second mark again as he tied his own school record by crossing again in 21.87 to place third in a field of more than 140 competitors. Colletti now owns the three fastest times in program history in the event. In addition, Colin Harte recorded the sixth-best time in program history with a time of 22.28.
Colletti, Ye and Ominje added another mark in the record book as they, along with Josh Lee, shattered the program record in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:18.52. Their record-breaking time today shaves just over two seconds off the previous record of 3:20.67, which had stood since 2014.
The Blue Jays loaded up in the mile with Lucas Rackers, Aiden Tomov and Brady Ott among the more than 350 entries. All Rackers did was take down a three-year-old school record by crossing in 4:05.39; the previous record of 4:07.84 had stood since 2022 and that had been – until today – the only sub 4:08 mile in program history. Tomov (4:10.38) and Ott (4:10.44) were nearly even at the line and they become just the sixth and seventh individuals in program history to crack 4:11.
All that remained for the Blue Jays after the mile was the 3,000. One more chance to dent the record book on what had already been an exceptional day. It would be hard to take what had already been done to another level. Wouldn’t it?
Apparently not as that’s exactly what junior all-everything distance specialist Emmanuel Leblond did. In a strong heat paced by runners from Eastern Kentucky, Virginia and Princeton, Leblond clocked in at 7:57.85 … yes, 7:57.85. That’s nearly 16 seconds faster than his previous career best, just under 14 seconds faster than the previous Johns Hopkins record of 8:11.53 (Gavin McElhennon / 2023) and, as of this writing, the fourth fastest time in Division III history.
Action at the David Hemery Invitational will continue on Saturday when the women take the track. If today was any indication, the curator of the Blue Jay record book better be ready.
