WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University men's and women's track and field teams both posted numerous standout individual performances en route to both teams winning the hosted 15th Annual MU Track & Field Outdoor Season Opener on Kessler Field Saturday afternoon. With 17 Division I women's teams and 15 men's teams competing, the Hawk improved both their men's and women's dual scoring meet records in the annual meet to 120-1 (men's) and 122-2 (women's) as both squads swept the field.
"We had some great early season performances on a cool, chilly day," said Monmouth Head Coach Joe Compagni. "If we can continue to progress from week to week, we should have a very productive spring."
Opening up the 2010 outdoor season for the Monmouth runners, sophomore Evan Mydlowski (Hamilton, N.J.) finished seventh overall in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 33:34.02. Fellow classmate Chris Rutherford (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) posted solid dual efforts in the hurdles events as he took home the medalist win in the 400 meter hurdles (53.33) and finished second in the 110 meter hurdles (15.16). Graduate Sonya Sullivan (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) led the Hawks hurdle trio in the 400 meter hurdles as she finished third overall (1:06.52) while sophomore Colleen Rutecki (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) and freshman Rachel Watkins (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) ended the event in fifth (1:07.18) and sixth (1:08.00), respectively. Sullivan then duplicated Rutherford's finishing position as she finished second in the 100 meter hurdles in 15.65 while Watkins crossed the line in 16.05 to place fifth overall.
The men's sprint team came alive in the 100 meter dash as sophomore Geoff Navarro (Mays Landin, N.J./Absegami) was the medalist winner with a time of 11.11. Senior Chris Taiwo (Budd Lake, N.J./Mt. Olive) and junior Zachory Krupka (Allentown, Pa./Allentown) finished in second (11.22) and fourth (11.39) to almost monopolize the top positions in the event. Following Navarro's lead, freshman Lachelle Wallace (Herndon, Va./South Lakes) won the women's 100 with a strong finishing time of 12.53. Sophomore Esteem Winder (Philadelphia, Pa./Carver) and junior Ashley Cuvilly (Uniondale, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) finished in seventh and eighth place with times of 13.24 and 13.25 - under a thousandth of a second separating the pair.
Leading the Hawks in women's long jump, senior Mary Kate Walsh (Woodbury, N.J./Woodbury) posted a jump of 16' 8.75" to finish second overall. Teammate Brittany Gibbs (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) finished sixth overall with a leap of 15' 11.5" while sophomore Lindsey Walsh (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape), fresh off of her All-East honors in the pentathlon during the indoor season, finished the event in eighth place overall (15' 10.25"). Then in the triple jump, Gibbs excelled in her top event as the fourth year Hawk broke the meet record with a leap of 38' 2". MK Walsh and Cuvilly finished second (36' 3.5") and third (36' .75") to complete the Hawks trifecta of the event.
In a field that included over 100 distance runners, junior Ben Hutterer (Saxtonburg, Pa./Knoch) finished third overall to lead the Blue and White in the 1500 meter run, crossing the tape in 4:03.73. Freshman Emily MacEwen (South Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) led the women's squad in the same event as she finished ninth overall in 4:55.12.
Both the men's and women's 4x100 meter teams paced their respective fields as the men's team finished with a medalist time of 42.20 and the women's team won in 49.30.
Picking up where they left off yesterday, the women's throwing crew placed four of their own in the top-ten in shot put and three in javelin. Freshman Sandra Jean-Romain (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) won shot put with a toss of 42' 4" while sophomore Symmone Fisher (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) finished fifth overall with a mark of 40' .5". The duo of senior Kelly Dantley (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) and sophomore Jessica Toritto (Smithwotn, N.Y./Smithtown) took seventh (37' 2.5") and eighth (36' 5") place respectively. Junior Mary Wilks (Bridgeton, N.J./Bridgeton) paced the field in the women's javelin with a winning throw of 136' 1" while fellow classmate Allyson Cardullo (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) finished second with her mark of 133' 10" and newcomer Anne Moccia (Wood-Ridge, N.J./Wood-Ridge) finished seventh (113' 2").
On the men's side, former MU standout Christian Keller won the men's discus with a toss of 159' 6" while the trio of seniors Larry Lundy (Friendville, Pa./Montrose Area), Shawn Sabo (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) and junior Vincent Elardo (Forked River, N.J./Lacey) finished second (154' 9"), third (151' 4") and fourth (147' 2"). Lundy, newly ranked in the U.S. in shot put, paced the entire field in his signature event with a toss of 54' 9.5". Reigning NEC Men's Field Athlete of the Week Elardo finished in second place (52' 4.5") while Sabo (49' 11") and freshman Shane Carle (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) (47' 8.5") ended the event in fourth and sixth, respectively. Senior Marion Easley (Somerville, N.J./Somerville) and freshman Vincent DuVernois (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) went one-two in the javelin with throws of 208' 8" and 203' 4", respectively. Fellow thrower Eric Paul (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) (197' 7") finished fourth overall in the same event.
In women's high jump, freshman Alison Day (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) finished first amongst collegiate jumpers and second overall clearing the 5' 2.25" mark. Wilks finished third (5' 2.25") while Dantley and L Walsh ended the event in a fifth place tie (5' 2.25"). Finishing sixth on the men's side, freshman Rich Bills (Matawan, N.J./St. Joseph) ended the event clearing the 6' bar. The sophomore duo of Marcus Goode (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township) and Joshua Lewis (Montville, N.J.) finished fifth and seventh overall in men's long jump with marks of 20' 6.5" and 20' 5.25".
The Hawks men's team saw five of their own finish in the top-ten of the men's 400 meter dash led by junior Eric Fay (Yatesville, Pa./Pittston Area) and sophomore Kevin Merrigan (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) who finished three-four with times of 50.18 and 50.31. Senior Crystal Stein (Stewartstown, Pa./Susquehannock) led the Hawks in the women's 400 with her fourth place finish in 58.64. In the men's 800 meter run, senior Peter Forgach (Long Branch, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) and freshman David Berger (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) finished seventh (1:58.59) and eighth (1:58.93) overall. Finishing second overall (2:20.10), senior Laura Embrey (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) led the Blue and White in the women's 800.
Picking up his second medalist win of the afternoon, Navarro posted a time of 22.22 in the men's 200 to open up his second outdoor season on a high note. Sprint teammate Taiwo finished in third place overall with a time of 22.23 - just one hundredth of a second behind Navarro. Wallace lead the women's team in the 200 with her second place finish (25.84).
In one of the most exciting events of the day, freshman Nicole Wojciechowski (Gloversville, N.Y./Broadalbin-Perth) finished fourth overall in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 12:08.50. In the men's triple jump, freshman Josh Mann (Warwick, N.J./Warwick Valley) finished fifth overall with a mark of 43' .25". Finishing one-two in men's pole vault were sophomores Jason Timmons (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) and Peter Matano (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) as both cleared the 13' 5.25" mark.
Finishing out the day's events, senior Cailin Lynam (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) was sandwiched between a slew of Connecticut runner in the 5000 meter run as she finished in fifth place overall in 18:07.43. Both the men's and women's 4x400 meter relay teams took home the gold as the men's team crossed the finish line in 3:23.70 and the women's team won in 4:02.14.
The Hawks hosted a competitive field of Division I schools including UConn (women's team only), Fairfield, FDU, Fordham, Hofstra, Iona, Marist, MONMOUTH, NJIT, Saint Peter's, Manhattan, Seton Hall, Stony Brook and NEC foes Quinnipiac (women's team only), Fairleigh Dickinson, St. Francis (N.Y.) and Wagner.
Both the Monmouth men's and women's squads have enjoyed tremendous success competing on Kessler Field. The Blue and White men's team is still undefeated at home since 1996, while the women's squad has lost just one time in that same span. In 2009, both teams clinched the Northeast Conference Outdoor Track & Field championships on Monmouth's campus.
Both triple jump records were broken during Saturday's events MU's Gibbs breaking the women's record (38' 2") and St. Francis (N.Y.)'s Kiechen Smith breaking the men's (46' 8.25"). Overall, three meet records were broken along with yesterday's women's hammer throw (Emma Ruggiero - 180' 3").
Several Hawks posted ECAC/IC4A qualifying times/distances in their respective events. Fisher and Dantley each made the ECACs for their efforts in women's hammer throw while Elardo and Lundy both qualified on the men's side in the same event. The Elardo/Lundy duo teamed up to qualify in men's shot put while a trio of Hawks - Easley, DuVernois and Paul - all qualified in javelin. Rutherford was the lone individual runner for MU to make the IC4A mark in the 400 meter hurdles and the men's 4x100 meter team of Krupka, Navarro, Kelsey and Taiwo punched their ticket into the IC4A's.
The Hawks will return to the track on Friday and Saturday, April 2nd and 3rd when MU heads to both the William and Mary hosted Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va. and the Princeton hosted Sam Howell Invitational in Princeton, N.J. Start times for both dates are TBA.
Photos from this weekend's event can be seen at reccentral.net.
