Men's Track and Field May 03, 2009 Monmouth Sports Information

MEN'S TRACK & FIELD WINS SEVENTH NEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Monmouth University's men's track & field team captured the 2009 Northeast Conference Outdoor Championship at home on Sunday afternoon.

“We won here in 2007 and we wanted to do that again this weekend,” said Compagni. “We needed a lot of great efforts in every event to make that happen and the team came together and made that happen.”

Compagni was named NEC Men's Coach of the Year after guiding the Hawks to its seventh outdoor league title. The Hawks tallied a NEC meet record 232 points for the title, its first outdoor since winning it at home in 2007. The previous record was 221 points, Monmouth won a total of seven events, the most gold medals in the history of the program. Saint Francis (Pa.), was the next closest competitor with 127 points while Sacred Heart was third with 99. The Hawks have not lost at home since the 1996 season.

“We have a great staff here but our team really was the star of the show this weekend,” said Compagni. “They made up their mind that they wanted to win the championships and gave tremendous effort in every event to win. Compagni is assisted by Abe Flores, Brian Hirshblond, Devin Barry, Taryn Landers, Chris Tarello and Meagan Drapkin.

Monmouth freshman Chris Rutherford (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) took home NEC Most Outstanding Track Peformer and Most Outstanding Rookie after winning two events and coming in second in one other.

“It's a great feeling when you put in all that hard work and it all pays off in the end,” said Rutherford. “I could not do it without the help of our coaching staff. The seniors took a lot of the younger guys under their guidance and it was nice to win the championship at home for them.”

Rutherford won the 110m hurdles, clocking in at 14.67. Senior Chris Tanzola (Long Valley, N.J./Mt. Olive) was fourth with a time of 15.37, while rookie Stevenson Cajuste (Egg Harbor, N.J./Egg Harbor) took sixth (15.49). Rutherford and Cajuste also went one-two in the 400m hurdles, with Rutherford earning a time of 52.58 and Cajuste clocking in at 53.18.

Rutherford was also part of MU's second place 4x400 relay team, which also included Kevin Merrigan, Navarro and senior Chris Vuono (Wall, N.J./CBA). The relay team clocked in with a time of 3:16.37.

Monmouth took the top four spots in the men's shot put, with MU junior Larry Lundy (Friendsville, Pa./Montrose Area) winning the event with his throw of 57' ?”. Senior Chris Keller (Matawan, N.J./Matawan) threw 53' 6 ?” for second, Vincent Elardo (Forked River, N.J./Lacey) was third with his mark of 52' 50' ?” and sophomore Tom Ciccoli (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) rounded out the scoring spots for MU.

Lundy placed second in the hammer (184' 3”), while Keller claimed the bronze with his throw of 177'. Elardo's throw of 170' 1” was fifth and Shawn Sabo (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) claimed sixth (168'6”).

The men's 4x100 relay squad ran the fourth fastest time in school history to capture the gold. The squad, made up of Dave Martell (Gibbsboro, N.J./Eastern Regional), Geoff Navarro (Mays Landing, N.J./Absegami), Jason Kelsey (Ramsey, N.J./Don Bosco) and Chris Taiwo (Budd Lake, N.J./Mt. Olive) ran an IC4A qualifying time of 41.61 to earn first team all-conference honors. Navarro also took gold in the 200m, claiming his medal after a time of 21.69, while Taiwo finished fourth in the event.

Vuono won the 400m with his time of 49.22 while freshman Kevin Merrigan (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) took home the bronze medal (49.93). The 100m dash found Navarro earning a third place finish (10.83) while Taiwo's time of 10.99 was fifth place. Taiwo earned a second place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 48' even, breaking the school record by almost two feet.

In the day's final distance event, sophomore Ben Hutterer (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) took third in the 5000m, crossing the tape in 15:17.63. Jason Timmons (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) was third in the pole vault, clearing 12' 3 ?”, Pete Matano (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) claimed fifth (12' 3 ?”) and Brandon Cabral (Farmingdale, N.J./Colts Neck) was seventh. Colton Langianese (Lewis Run, Pa./Bradford Area) placed sixth in the 800m with a time of 1:57.74. Billy Dowd (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) claimed eighth place in the 3k steeplechase, crossing the tape in 10:04.00.