PHILADELPHIA- Monmouth University's track and field teams excelled at the final day of the Penn Relays on Saturday, with a third-place Championship relay finish and two more big efforts in the throws.
After qualifying with a 3:48 effort on Thursday, the women's 4x400 team finished third in the ECAC Championship Final, ahead of Morgan State, Seton Hall and Penn, with a time of 3:45.48. That team was made up of Michelle Losey (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), Crystal Stein (Stewartstown, Pa./Susquehannak), Illiana Blackshear (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) and Latasha Dickson (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan).
“It was great to have one of our relay teams in one of the prestigious Saturday afternoon finals at Penn Relays again this year, competing against the best schools in the East in front of a packed house,” said head coach Joe Compagni.
Rookie Bryan Fill (Keansburg, N.J./Ocean) threw a personal best of 189' 9" in the javelin, narrowly missing the finals of the event. Senior Ryan Connell (Nutley, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) finished up his weekend with a mark of 184' 8" in the hammer.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS
On Thursday at Penn Relays, senior Tisifenee Taylor (Woodbury, N.J./Woodbury) won the Eastern long jump. Taylor's jump of 20' 4 ?” was first inn here event and one of the top distances of any competitor at the meet, which featured athletes from hundreds of college across the country. Junior Tiffany Hahn's (Avoca, Pa./Pittston Area) javelin throw of 142' 10” set a new school record and qualified her for the NCAA Division I Regional Championships. She placed overall in the college women's javelin. The women's 4x400 relay team of Michelle Losey (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), Crystal Stein (Stewartstown, Pa./Susquehannak), Illiana Blackshear (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) and Latasha Dickson (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan) took first in their heat with a time of 3:48.40, qualifying them for the ECAC Final, which was run on Saturday afternoon just after the “USA vs. The World” relays. The women's 4x100 relay team of Deanna Paulson, Michelle Losey, Illiana Blackshear and Tisifenee Taylor ran 47.92, narrowly missing a spot in the ECAC Finals.
On the men's side Martin Suarez III (Burlington, N.J./Holy Cross) finished the steeplechase in 9:23, which is one of the top-five times in program history, while Craig Segal ran 14:53 in the 5,000.
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS
On Friday, a Penn Relays crowd of more than 39,000 had to wait out a two-hour rain and lightning delay. But senior captain Nick Williams (Adamstown, Md./Urbana) didn't let the weather hold him back in the throws, as he took first in one event and second in another.
Williams won the Eastern College Division of the shot put with a personal best toss of 56' 3 3/4", improving his NCAA Regional position. Christian Keller (Matawan, N.J./Matawan) took third in the same event with his throw of 54'5 1/2". Williams also broke the school record in the discus, taking second in the College men's Discus with his throw of 172' 8". The senior broke former MU All-American Jon Kalnas' record set in 2002, improving his mark for the NCAA Regional meet in the process.
