WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth men's and women's track and field teams posted high marks at the Lehigh Angry Birds Invitational. The competing teams were the Hawks, host Lehigh University, Winthrop University, and University of Pennsylvania.
The women walked away with first place with a total of 175.5 points, while Penn tallied 170, Lehigh came in third with 137, and Winthrop came away with 76.5. On the men's side of competition, Penn accumulated 181 points, Monmouth accrued 168, Lehigh tallied 127, and Winthrop scored 72.
Head Coach Joe Compagni said after the meet, "the meet had a unique scoring format, where only the top two people from each team were scored in each event. That really puts a premium on balance more than depth, and we had a great battle with Penn all day long."
The women won eight of the 16 events. Senior Amanda Eller (Millville, N.J./Millville) won the mile run with a time of 5:03.37, 10 seconds ahead of Penn's Elyssa Gensib. She was also on the distance medley relay that consisted of senior Emily MacEwen (Glastonbury, Conn./South Glastonbury), sophomore Kate Frye (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Boro), and senior Danielle Toritto (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown). The DMR team qualified for the ECAC Division I Championships with their winning time of 12:13.38.
Junior Mariah Toussaint won the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.13, one second faster than Penn's Nonyerem Onyeador. Senior Rachel Watkins (Oakland, N.J./Oakland Hills) won the 400 meter dash with a time of 58.28, .27 ahead of Danielle Albergo from Lehigh. Watkins was also a part of the winning 4x400 meter relay that also had sophomore Mel Lewis (Midland Park, N.J./Midland Park), freshman Morgan Spann (Jersey City, N.J./Dr. Ronald E. McNair) and junior Laura Williams (North Brunswick, N.J./North Brunswick).
Watkins also won the high jump with a height of 1.7 meters (5 feet 7 inches). Senior Alison Day (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) came in second with an identical height, but accrued two points less. Toussaint captured the long jump with a distance of 5.43 meters (17 feet 9.75 inches), and junior Rachel Aliotta (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) captured a new school record with a 14.92 meters (48 feet 11.5 inches). Sophomore Lauren McDonald (Roseland, N.J./West Essex Regional) placed third in the pole vault with a height of 3.5 meters (11 feet 5.75 inches), but set a new school record.
Compagni also said, "as a team we are looking for improvement in our intensity and our execution over last week, and we were able to get that for the most part in every event area."
The men won six of the 16 events. Freshman Eric Kahana (Freehold, N.J./Freehold) won by one one-hundredth of a second with a time of 6.97, beating Winthrop's Zach Miller who ran a 6.98. Kahana placed second in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.42, while freshman Geordan Ferguson (Lakehurst, N.J./Manchester Township) won with a time of 8.30. Senior Ford Palmer (Smithville,
N.J. (Absegami) won the 800 meter dash with a time of 1:54.9, while sophomore Andrew Langille (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada/R.S. McLaughlin C.V.I) placed second in the same event with a time of 1:56.28.
Joe Marini won the triple jump with a distance of 14.13 meters (46 feet 4.25 feet). Junior Errol Jeffrey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Transit Tech [Bronx CC]) took the shot put with a distance of 17.54 meters (57 feet 6.5 inches) and also won the weight throw with a toss of 17.91 meters (58 feet 9.25 inches). Sophomore Taylor Bernstein (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville Township) took second with a distance of 15.2 meters (49 feet 10.5 inches). His toss is a IC4A qualifier, along with Kahana's 60 meter dash time.
The Hawks will next compete at home in the USATF-NJ Open Masters Championships on Saturday, January 26 at 9 a.m. at the Multipurpose Activity Center.
