BOSTON, Mass. - The Monmouth University men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up their weekends at the 2010 IC4A and ECAC Division I Indoor Championships on Sunday afternoon in Boston with two of their own earning All-East honors. Fresh off of his Most Outstanding Field Athlete of the Meet honors at the NEC Championships two weeks ago, junior Vincent Elardo (Forked River, N.J./Lacey) added more hardware to his trophy case this season as he earned All-East honors in shot put.
"We were certainly hoping to accomplish a bit more at the {ECAC & IC4A} championships but even so, we had some great highlights on both the men's and women's sides," said Head Coach Joe Compagni.
For the second straight season, Elardo took home All-East honors after finishing the afternoon with a toss of 55' 6.5", good enough for fifth place overall. Fellow thrower Tom Ciccoli (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) just missed out on earning back-to-back All-East awards as he finished ninth overall with a mark of 53' .75". Elardo's top-eight effort marked the fourth straight season that the Hawks men's team has had at least one thrower earn All-East honors in shot put.
The highlight for the Hawks on the track came in the form of the women's distance medley team shattering MU's school record by over nine seconds (11:52.94) as the crew of senior Laura Embrey (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional), sophomore Colleen Rutecki (Springfield, Pa./Springfield), freshman Emily MacEwen (South Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury), and senior Cailin Lynam (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) finished 12th overall - just three seconds out of All-East top-eight honors.
Sophomore Symmone Fisher (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) finished 17th overall in the women's weight throw with her best toss of 51' 4.5". In the jumps, senior Brittany Gibbs (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) ended her final trip to the ECAC Championships with a 22nd place finish in triple jump (37' 5").
Leading the men's jumps crew, senior Chris Taiwo (Budd Lake, N.J./Mt. Olive) posted a leap of 45' 3.5" to finish 15th overall in his last showing at the IC4A's. In the semi-finals of the 55 meter hurdles, sophomore Chris Rutherford (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) finished just outside of qualifying for the finals as he crossed the tape in 7.86 to finish 14th overall.
Elardo's four points in the shot put helped put the Monmouth men's team on the board as the Blue and White finished 40th overall - out of over 100+ teams - while the MU women's team finished 43rd out of 80+ teams with three points in the final tally at the ECAC Championships.
The Hawks will take a one week break before returning to the track for the beginning of the outdoor season on Friday and Saturday March 19th-20th when MU travels to Lakewood, N.J. for the Georgian Court Mini-Meet. Meet start time is yet to be determined.
All-East Honors
Women's Team
Lindsey Walsh Pentathlon
Men's Team
Vincent Elardo Shot Put
