Monmouth's men's track & field team competed at three separate events over the weekend, with the Hawks earning a NCAA Regional bid at the Lou Onesty/Milton Abrahamson Invitational held on the campus of the University of Virginia.
Sophomore Bryan Fill (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J./Hasbrouck Heights) picked up an NCAA Regional invite with his winning javelin toss of 222' 08”. The toss ranks Fill 17th in the nation among Division I throwers and fourth in the East region, and also was good enough for the IC4A and regional qualifying meet. Matt Mizerek (Morris Plains, N.J./Parsippany Hills) was seventh in the javelin with a throw of 180' 07”. Monmouth senior Ed Skowronski (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) was second in the hammer throw with his mark of 196' 9”, which ranks the senior 15th in the East region. The Hawks earned points in this week's NCAA Division I poll because of Fill's and Skrowronski's performances, and MU currently ranks as one of the top teams in the Northeast. Christian Keller (Matawan, N.J./Matawan) was third (173' 07”) and former Monmouth Hawks Ryan Connell was fourth (172' 07”). Keller was also third overall, the second collegian, in the discus throw with a season best effort to improve his IC4A qualifying mark(168'), while Shawn Sabo was fifth in the event with his distance of 159' 10”, which is an IC4A qualifying toss. Monmouth alum Jon Kalnas was secod in the shot put to two-time Olympic silver medalist and World Outdoor Champion Adam Nelson. Keller earned a bid to the IC4A's with his fourth place effort (54' 3 3/4”). Tom Ciccoli (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) and Vincent Elardo (Forked River, N.J./Lacy) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the event.
The men's 4x100 relay team was fourth overall, crossing the line with an IC4A qualifying time of 42.36. The 4x400m relay team finished third on the day with their time of 3:20.45.
Sophomore Pete Forgach's (Long Branch, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) time of 4:00.29 was seventh in the 1500m, with Chris Vuono (Wall, N.J./CBA) taking eighth in the 400m with his time of 49.47. Forgach also had a seventh place mark in the 5000, registering a time of 15:56.28. Derrik Keich (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area) finished seventh in the 400m hurdles, coming in at the 55.49. Forgach became the first Monmouth athlete to score in both the 1500 and 5000 in the same meet in ten years at the meet.
At the Bison Outdoor Classic, held at Bucknell University, Zachary Krupka (Allentown, Pa./Allentown) took 12th in the decathlon, highlighted by his third place finish in the 400m and a fifth place finish in the 100m. His effort gives him the second best score for a freshman in school history in the decathlon.
Senior Randy Hadzor (Lafayette, N.Y./Lafayette) finished seventh in the 3000m Steeplechase at the NJ Invite, held at the College of New Jersey. Andy Giaccone (Toms River, N.J./Manchester) took fifth at the 5000m, while Anthony Appezzato (Branchburg, N.J./Somerville) collected a sixth place finish in the triple jump. Freshman Jeremy Gordet (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial) was third in the shot put with Appezzato placed seventh in the discus at the Lynchburg Classic in Virginia.
This weekend the Hawks will compete at Moravian with the hammer throw on Friday and all other events on Saturday.
