STATE COLLEGE, Pa.- Monmouth University's track and field squad competed against some of the regions elite at the Penn State Relays on Saturday, coming away with a multitude of top-10 finishes.

The Hawks sent the athletes that did not compete in Friday's NYC Gotham Cup to State College, where MU turned out 18 top-10 performances.  Cornell, St. Joseph's, Temple, Robert Morris, St. Francis (Pa.), Mount St. Mary's and host Penn State were some of the other squads non-teamed scored event.

MU sprinter Fabrice St. Elme (Rahway, N.J./Rahway) got the men started off with a third place finish in the 55m dash with at time of 6.44, which qualified for the IC4As .  The Hawk 4x55 relay team made up of freshmen Jerome St. Bernard (Markham, Ontario/Michael McGivney), Chris Taiwo, Josh Burnett (Wenohah, N.J./Deptford) and Dave Martell (Gibbsboro, N.J./Eastern Regional) took first, finishing in a time of 25.93 which is also a MU record.

The 4x200 relay team of St. Elme, St. Bernard, Taiwo and Martell took fifth (1:30.28) which is was the second fastest time in school history, while Taiwo finished 11^th in the triple jump with a leap of 39'3”.  The Hawks throwing squads, let by coach Abe Flores were impressive as MU athletes took four of the top-10 spots in the shot put.  Nick Williams' (Adamstown, Md./Urbana) throw of 54' was good enough for third, while Kyle Hirschklau's (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) toss of 52'1” took fifth.  Larry Lundy (Friendsville, Pa./Montrose) took eighth, while Christian Keller (Matawan, N.J./Matawan) finished 10^th, with throws of 49'9” and 49'7”, respectively.

Keller's throw of 59'6” in the weight took second, while Lundy, a sophomore, picked up sixth in the event with a throw of 57'0”, which qualified him for IC4As.  Ryan Connell's (Nutley, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) throw of 54'4” placed seventh in the event.  The shot put relay team of Hirschklau and Williams combined to throw 106'3.5", eclipsing the school record set last year by five feet.  Keller and Lundy combined to throw 116'7.75" in the weight throw relay, setting the new school record by nine feet.

On the women's side, the 4x55m relay team of Deanna Paulson (Sewell, N.J./Washington Twp), Shannon Alston (Hawthorne, N.J./Midland Park), Latasha Leake (Wrightstown, N.J./North Burlington) and Ashley Huffman (South Setauket, N.J./Ward Melville) took second place with a time of 29.29, setting a new Monmouth record in the process.  Paulson took seventh in the finals of the 55m, finishing in a time of 7.44.  Huffman also qualified for the ECACs in the 55m hurdles with her time run in the preliminaries.

The 4x200 relay squad of Paulson, Leake, Brittany Gibbs (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) and Huffman finished sixth, coming in at 1:48.03.  The time is the second best mark in Hawk history.  In the field events, Nikki Zwartjes (Burlington, N.J./Burlington) picked up a fourth place finish in the pole vault (10'4”).  Huffman had the day's best performance for the Hawks, taking second in the long jump with a leap of 18'2”.  Gibbs set a new MU freshman record, after her fourth place finish in the triple jump, leaping 37'3.25”, which was combined with Marykate Walsh's (Woodbury, N.J./Woodbury) jump for a relay distance of 69'11", breaking the Monmouth record that was set at last year's event.  Leake's high jump of 5'3” earned her sixth place.