BRONX, N.Y. - The Monmouth University men's and women's track & field teams squared off against several of the east coast's elite schools at the Great Dane Classic on Friday afternoon at the world famous Armory in Bronx, N.Y. Despite only sporting half of the MU squads, the men's team finished the scoring event in eleventh place overall (27.5 points) while the women's crew finished sixth overall (40 points).
"We had some great performances this afternoon" said Head Coach Joe Compagni. "We especially had some very solid finishes from our sprint group."
Graduate Sonya Sullivan (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) led the hurdle crew with a sixth place finish in the 55 meter hurdles (8.36) to open up scoring for the Hawks. On the men's side, sophomore Chris Rutherford (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) posted his best finish of the young season, in the same event, with a time of 7.71, earning himself a third place finish and a trip to the IC4A Championships for his efforts.
Finishing seventh overall for the Hawks in the 55 meter sprint was sophomore sprinter Geoff Navarro (Mays Landing, N.J./Absegami) who ended the race in a three-way tie with a time of 6.53. Navarro also finished 10th in the 200 meter sprint with an IC4A qualifying time of 22.09. Later in the evening, Rutherford came alive again to post another IC4A qualifying time (1:04.96) in the 500 meter run en route to a seventh place finish.
Red-hot sprinter Michelle Losey (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) had another impressive outing for the Blue and White as she posted back-to-back ECAC qualifying times in the 55 meter sprint (7.12) and the 200 meter dash (24.63). The versatile senior also broke MU school records in both events - which included shattering the record in the 200 by over half a second - earning a fourth place finish overall in the 55 sprint and second place finish in the 200.
Rounding out scoring for the sprints crew was senior Crystal Stein (Stewartstown,Pa./Susquehannock) who earned a trip to the ECAC Championships with her sixth place finish in the 500 meter dash (1:15.86).
The distance crews for both teams produced crucial team points for Monmouth. Senior Cailin Lynam (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) crossed the tape first for the Hawks in the mile run as her 5:05.54 time earned her a third place finish.
In a mirror image of last week's meet, freshmen Emily MacEwen (South Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) and Ford Palmer (Smithville, N.J./Absegami) each posted top finishes for MU in the 1000 meter run. Both newcomers continue to impress early on as MacEwen finished fourth overall (3:02.54) and Palmer finished fifth (2:30.87), narrowly missing a IC4A qualifying time by just under a second.
The Blue and White received ninth and 10th place finishes in the 3000 by upperclassmen Eric Schaffer (Wall, N.J./Wall) and Billy Dowd (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) with times of 8:51.92 and 8:57.17, respectively. Crossed the finish line in 10th place overall in the 800 meter run was senior Laura Embrey (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) with a time of 2:20.46.
The men's side saw great finishes in two of their relay teams including a fourth place finish by the DMR squad of Peter Forgach (Long Branch, N.J./Red Bank Catholic), Eric Fay (Yatesville, Pa./Pittston Area), Colton Langianese (Lewis Run, Pa./Bradford Area), and Ben Hutterer (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) in a time of 10:23.39. In the 4x400 meter relay, the Hawks finished eighth overall in 3:22.24 with the quad of Jason Kelsey (Ramsey, N.J./Don Bosco Prep), Rutherford, Fay, and Palmer. In the women's bread and butter event - the 4x400 meter relay - the Hawks team of Rachel Watkins (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills), Losey, Ajda Dotday (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne), and Stein finished in an ECAC qualifying time of 3:52.09 to end the evening third overall.
The high jumps duo of junior Mary Wilks (Bridgeton, N.J./Bridgeton) and sophomore Lindsey Walsh (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) both cleared the 5'1" standard to finish in a ninth place tie overall. Senior Brittany Gibbs (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) led the Blue and White in triple jump as her leap of 38' 7.5" gave her a third place finish overall and also etched her name into MU's annuals with a top-five all-time finish.
Fresh off of breaking the school record weeks ago, senior Chris Taiwo (Budd Lake, N.J./Mt. Olive) again smashed the MU indoor triple jump record with his mark of 47' 9.25", earning himself a third place finish, qualifying for the IC4A's, and breaking the record by over six inches.
Albany, host school for the event, oversaw more than 40 competing schools and track clubs from the Northeast, Florida and Puerto Rico including NEC foes, Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island, and St. Francis (N.Y.).
With only half of the Hawks team competing this afternoon, the other half of the team including the bulk of the jumpers and throwing crews, will be looking to post top marks tomorrow evening. "We're looking forward to great performances from the other half of the team tomorrow at Princeton" said Coach Compagni.
The other half of the Hawks' contingent take action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Princeton University for the Princeton Relays. The event is slated to start at 5:00 p.m.
