When the high jump bar went up to 2.07 meters, Jihad Beauchman ’06 knew that if he cleared the height he would qualify for the NCAA Regional track meet and the IC4A Championship. Responding to what he now calls “good pressure,” Beauchman did not disappoint, placing third in the event and posting his best mark all season.

Beauchman, who now also wants to qualify in the triple jump, led the men’s track team to a seventh place finish at this weekend’s Colonial Relays with a team-high 11 points. The meet, in Williamsburg, Va., marked the third straight weekend the Elis have competed in warmer climates. Penn State won the competition with 192 points; Yale had 43.

Strong performances by Beauchman and his fellow jumpers and by the distance squad provided almost all the team’s points.

But the Bulldogs did not have success in other events.

Individual sprints, hurdles and throws contributed no points to Yale’s total. The throwers were without Nathan Lawrie ’04, who has been a big scorer in previous meets.

Still, several athletes considered the meet positive for the team. Beauchman, who took third and fourth in the high jump and triple jump respectively, said the team is progressing toward where it needs to be for more important meets at the end of the season: Harvard, Heptagonals and Penn Relays.

Citing a very competitive field, Beauchman said comparing the marks and times of the throwers, sprinters and hurdlers to their previous individual times is the best way to judge Yale’s performances. With such stiff competition, scoring was difficult.

“It’s a really good meet,” Beauchman said. “There’s a lot of good people there.”

Sprinter and long jumper Anthony Thomas ’03 also performed well, scoring six points with a third place finish in the long jump.

Robert LoBue ’04 called the meet a “step in the right direction,” though he was disappointed personally not to qualify for NCAA Regionals and the IC4A Championships. His regret is not surprising; he only needed to run a second faster in the 800 meter race, even though he thinks he may have had his best time ever (1:52.41). His finish was still good for fourth place and five team points.

LoBue also fulfilled his usual anchoring duties for the 2 mile relay team, which finished second, the best any Bulldog relay team or individual did at the meet.

Another runner on the relay was Robert Dwyer ’04, who set a whopping three second personal best for an 800 meter split (1:53). He also set a personal record in the 1,500 meter run (3:53), in which he placed seventh.

“We had been working very hard last week, and I certainly didn’t think I was going to run a [personal record] for the 800 meters,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer said Josh Yelsey ’05, another runner on the relay, broke his previous best 800 meter split by two seconds.

The track team will split next weekend, with Matthew Boshart ’06, LoBue, Dwyer, Yelsey and Thomas traveling to the Sea Ray Relays in Tennessee while the rest of the team attends the Delaware Invitational.