WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University men's and women's track & field teams opened up their brand-new, state-of-the-art Multipurpose Activity Center's track with dual victories on Saturday. The Hawks received many solid individual and team relay efforts, helping the Hawks men's team to win their dual meets with Wagner and NJIT: Monmouth 114.9 - Wagner 15, Monmouth 117.9 - NJIT 19 and NJIT defeated Wagner, NJIT 57 - Wagner 52. On the women's side, Monmouth won both of their dual meets: Monmouth 79 - Wagner 48, Monmouth 113 - NJIT 4, and Wagner's women's team defeated NJIT, Wagner 89 - NJIT 19.
With four of MU's five track All-Americans in the crowd, amongst over 450 other spectators, the Hawks swept several events in the morning and set a number of school top-five records.
"It was a tremendous and historic day for us and it was great to have so many alumni and spectators there to cheer us on, " said Head Coach Joe Compagni. "It was a great event, but we have a lot of areas where we need to improve on. It was nice to get our first meet in to see where we are and to be at home was of great advantage."
Brittany Gibbs (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) medaled for the Hawks crew in the triple jump with a jump of 38'6.25" followed by a trio of teammates taking third through sixth place. The Hawks picked up valuable points in shot put as Sandra Jean-Romain (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) second-place throw of 40' 3.25" led a contingent of five Hawks throwers finish in second through sixth place.
In long jump, Mary Kate Walsh's (Woodbury, N.J./Woodbury) leap of 17' 1.5" earned her a third place finish while Gibbs finished fourth for the Hawks with a jump of 16' 10". MU swept all the points in high jump as Alison Day (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) cleared the bar at 5' 5" for the medalist win.
Historically one of the Hawks most consistent teams, the men's throwing crew earned crucial points for MU throughout the afternoon. Vincent Elardo (Forked River, N.J./Lacey) and Shawn Sabo (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) took one-two in the weight throw with throws of 54' 2" and 52', respectively. In shot put, Tom Ciccoli (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) took the medalist win, winging a throw of 49' .25" in Monmouth's first-ever field event in the brand-new MAC facilities. A trio of Hawks finished in third through fifth place with Sabo, Shane Carle (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial), and Zachory Krupka (Allentown, Pa./Allentown) earning three points for MU.
The men's jump crew had a solid afternoon, sweeping all the meet points in triple jump, long jump and high jump and taking all but two points in pole vault. In triple jump, Chris Taiwo (Budd Lake, N.J./Mt. Olive) led four Hawks in scoring with his first place jump of 45' 8". Josh Mann (Warwick, N.J./Warwick Valley) finished second with a leap of 44' .75" and Alex Bowers (Bayville, N.J./Central Regional) finished third with a jump of 42' 8". Three Hawks tied for the medalist win in high jump, as Andrew Fedder, Rich Bills (Matawan, N.J./St. Joseph), and Julio Rodriguez (Bound Brook, N.J./Bound Brook) each cleared 6' to share the victory. A veteran and newcomer finished first and second in long jump as Stevenson Cajuste (Egg Harbor, N.J./Egg Harbor) led the Hawks with a 22' 6.5" leap followed by rookie Matt Sunga (Bloomfield, N.J./Immaculate Conception) posting a 21' 7.25" jump.
Jason Timmons (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) picked up the medalist victory in pole vault, narrowly defeating teammate Peter Matano (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) with less scratches, as both cleared 13' 5.25".
After a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony, featuring the Hawks track and field alumni All-Americans leading the current Blue and White team in a ceremonial lap, both the men's and women's teams opened up the track with 60-meter sprint victories. Three-time NEC Most Valuable Track Performer, Michelle Losey (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), finished first amongst her peers with a time of 7.77, while teammates Ajda Dotday (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne) finished second in 8.07. In the men's race, Geoff Navarro (Mays Landing, N.J./Absegami) led the MU sweeping of the 60 meter sprint with a time of 7.01 while Taiwo, Cabral and Jason Kelsey (Ramsey, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) finished second through fourth just tenths of a second apart.
Newcomer Sonya Sullivan (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) won the women's 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.25 while reigning NEC Most Outstanding Track Performer and Rookie of the Meet, Chris Rutherford (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East), took the gold in the men's 60 meter hurdles in 8.30 narrowly edging teammate Cajuste (8.54).
The men's and women's 300 & 600 meter sprints saw several top-five records broken. Losey broke her own school-record, turning in a time of 40.25 while teammates Dotday notched a time of 42.32, good enough for fourth all-time, and her second best career finish. Kevin Merrigan (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) earned a victory on the men's side in a 35.45 finish.
Rutherford earned his second medalist win of the afternoon in the 600 meter run pacing the field with a time of 1:23.82, taking over the first-place spot on the MU annuals, while teammate Ford Palmer (Smithville, N.J./Absegami) turned in the fourth-best time in school history with a 1:24.85 finish. Continuing the school record trend, Crystal Stein (Stewartstown, Pa./Susquehannock) made her way onto the record books with a MU fourth best all-time finish of 1:39.59, winning the women's event.
Monmouth women's sprint meter relay team of Sullivan, Esteem Winder (Philadelphia, Pa./Carver), Gibbs, and Aracelis Lantigua (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) took gold with a time of 4:33.09. The MU men's 4x400 meter relay teams took first and second to finish the event with the winning team of Cajuste, Krupka, Joshua Lewis (Montville, N.J.) and Christopher McGee (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury)finishing in 3:33.03.
The Blue and White will return to the track on Friday, December 11th, when they travel to Princeton, N.J. for the Princeton New Year Invitational. The event is to slated to start at 5:00 p.m.
