LEWISBURG, Pa. - At the two-day Bucknell Bison Open, the Monmouth men's and women's track & field teams had five multi-eventers in action as well as several jumpers, sprinters and distance runners. The event, ending yesterday evening, featured the men's heptathlon - seven events including the 60 dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 hurdles, pole vault and 1000 meter run - and women's pentathlon - five events including the 60 hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800.
In the Blue and White's most exciting event of the weekend, the women's pentathlon, Lindsey Walsh (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) (3340 points), Mary Wilks (Bridgeton, N.J./Bridgeton) (3292) and Kelly Dantley (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) (3109 points) finished first, second and fourth overall, nearly monopolizing the event for MU. Their final scores were good enough for seventh, eighth and tenth best in school history. Both Walsh (Indoors) and Wilks (outdoors) earned All-East honors as multi-eventers last year.
In the men's heptathlon, freshmen Richard Bills (Matawan, N.J./St. Joseph) scored 4045 points and Andrew Fedder (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) notched 3719 overall points to finish ninth and 11th, respectively. Both of their performances were among the top-ten in school history in the heptathlon.
Other women's track and field athletes ending the meet with solid marks were freshman Alison Day (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) who finished first in the high jump (5'5") and Jenn Tarsan (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) finished fifth in the both high jump and triple jump. Junior distance runner Christine Altland (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) was fifth overall in the mile in 5:16.03 and the women's distance medley relay team finished third overall with the team of Altland, Morgan West (Secaucus, N.J./Saint Dominic Academy), Erin Szulewski (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) and Tiffany McKenna (Swainton, N.J./Wildwood Catholic).
Also for the men, junior Julio Rodriguez (Bound Brook, N.J./Bound Brook) finished second in the high jump at 6'4" while pole vaulters Peter Matano (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) and Brandon Cabral (Farmingdale, N.J./Colts Neck) finished tied for third (14'9") and tied for sixth (14'3.25"), respectively.
Rounding out notable finishes for the men were Marcus Goode (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township) who finished third overall in the 60 with a time of 7.09 seconds, and also finished second in the men's long jump with a 22'1.75" effort, and freshman Josh Mann (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) finishing second in the triple jump, going 44'6". The men's distance medley relay squad finished fourth overall with the team of J.J. Caffarelli (Lauren Springs, N.J./Highland Regional), Blair Ringgold (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional), Mark Bernardo (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell), and Garth DeBlasio (Millstone, N.J./Allentown).
MU will return to action on February 5th and 6th for both the Penn State Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup and Bob Giegengack Collegiate Invitational. Action in both events will start at 5:00 p.m.
