Men and women impress at New Balance in N.Y.

The Pitt women’s track and field team came away with two event titles this weekend in the New… The Pitt women’s track and field team came away with two event titles this weekend in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York, and the men’s squad also impressed by recording top-10 finishes in several events.

The Pitt women’s relay teams came up huge in the weekend tournament, with the 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams capturing overall victories.

The 800-meter team just missed the school record by 0.62 seconds, which was set in the same meet last year. That group ran a time of 1:37.70.

Pitt’s 1,600-meter relay squad also placed first and finished in a time of 3:45.60.

More Pitt women runners made highlights individually.

Senior distance runner Amy Ruffalo finished second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:45.87. That accomplishment earned Ruffalo Big East- and ECAC-qualifying marks.

The 500-meter race placed two more Panthers in the top 10.

Kari Hedderick inched past teammate Kaetlyn Brown by only one hundredth of a second for fifth place in the event. Their times were 1:14.17 and 1:14.18, respectively.

Two other Pitt women recorded top-10 finishes in the same event, the long jump. Janessa Murphy leapt 6.21 meters to place fourth in the competition, while Martina Hallman’s 5.88-meter jump gave her the eighth spot.

Kristin Johnson finished in a three-way tie for 10th place in the high jump.

Although the men’s club won no team events, it scored five more individual top-10 performances spread out among five events.

Eric Jones scored the highest male finish of the day for Pitt, placing third in the men’s long jump by leaping 15.14 meters.

Hurdles runner Mike Wray recorded a fourth-place finish in the preliminary 60-meter hurdles event with a time of 7:85. That was good for his fastest time of the season, and Wray came in seventh in the finals of the event.

Ron Walter notched an IC4A-championship berth with his pole vault performance during the weekend.

Walter finished in sixth by clearing 4.80 meters.

Senior Eric Fleming placed seventh in the mile run by recording a time of 4:15.03.

Fellow Panther runner Josh Christopher also tallied a seventh place finish, with a 5,000-meter run time of 15:08.59.

Kyle Kaminski just missed the top 10 behind Christopher in the 5,000 meters, placing 12th with a time of 15:21.70.

Aaron Taylor ran a time of 1:55.29 in the 800-meter finals, finishing in a tie for 15th.

Coach Alonzo Webb could not be reached for comment.

The Pitt track squads have a week to rest until their next competition in Fayetteville, Ark., next weekend.

The Tyson Invitational is a two-day affair that begins on Friday and finishes the following day.