2012 Emory Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Season Recap

Emory University senior Ian Francis was named the University Athletic Association’s (UAA) Most Outstanding Performer in Field Events, and junior Stephen Ellwood broke the program record in the 1,500-meter run, during the 2012 outdoor track and field season.

Francis claimed individual conference championships in both the long jump and the triple jump, in addition to teaming with junior Jay Okeke, junior Pat Lanter, and freshman Gui Silva to win the 400-meter relay.  At the UAA Championships, his jump of 14.82 meters was just a hundredth of a meter short of the conference record, and ranked as the second longest in the history of the Emory program.  Francis would go on to be the team’s lone competitor at the 2012 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships, finishing 13^th in the triple jump and 15^th in the long jump.

It marked the 12^th time that an Emory athlete has been named the UAA’s Most Outstanding Performer for the outdoor season, and the first that an Eagle has earned the honor for field events.

Meanwhile, Ellwood set a new program record in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:52.39 in the event at the Dr. Keeler Invitational on May 10^th.  He broke Emory’s 16-year old record in the event of 3:52.57, previously held by Tony Lewis.  Elwood earned all-UAA honors in the 1,500-meter run as well, placing second in the event at the UAA Championships.

Despite losing a number of key athletes to injuries earlier in the season, the Eagles scored 111 points at the 2012 UAA Championships to finish in fifth place behind Washington University (195.5 points), Carnegie Mellon University (149.5 points), Case Western Reserve University (118 points) and the University of Chicago (113 points).  Other all-UAA honors for the Eagles at the conference championship meet, hosted by Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, came from second-place finishes by freshman Gui Silva in the 400-meter dash, freshman James Bassen in the javelin throw, senior Xavier Fowler in the triple jump, and the 1,600-meter relay team of junior Isaac Chambers, Francis, sophomore Courtlandt Perkins, and Silva, and a third-place finish from freshman Patrick Crews in the 800-meter run.

Emory athletes totaled three UAA Championships and all-UAA honors in nine events during the two-day meet.

Also during the season, the Eagles placed first out of 21 teams at the Emory Classic on March 30^th – 31^st, fourth out of 14 teams at the Emory Invitational on March 23^rd – 24^th, and fourth out of five teams with a limited squad at the Sewanee Invitational.

A number of Eagles were also recognized for their academic success during the 2011-12 season.  Highlighting that group were senior Geraint Davies, Ellwood and senior Ben Euwer, who were each named to the Capital One/ CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team during the season.

The Eagles earned the following honors during the 2012 season:

The following were the top marks by Emory athletes during the 2012 season:

*E – Emory Record