NEW YORK, NY- The Monmouth University men's track and field programs is leading after day one of the MAAC Championships at the New York Armory, while the women are in second. The men have 79 points with 5 of 17 events completed, while the women have 63.5 points with 6 of 17 events completed.
 
Khalid Slocum highlighted the first day with a school record setting performance in the long jump to pace the Hawks. Tim Van Cauwenberge led a top five sweep of the high jump for the men. Patrice Baston (long jump) and the women's DMR won MAAC titles for the women.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
-       '"We had excellent efforts in the finals held today and a good number of people advancing from the preliminaries," said head coach Joe Compagni. "Tomorrow every event is a final, of course, and we will need to have a lot of strong focused efforts across the board."
-       Behind the Monmouth men are Rider with 35.5 points, Iona in 3rd of 10 schools with 32 points, and Manhattan with 22 points after the first day.
-       Rider is leading the women's meet after day one with 69 points, Monmouth is in 2nd with 63.5, Quinnipiac is 3rd with 33.5 and Manhattan is 4th of 10 MAAC schools with 25.5         points.
-       The first win for the Hawks came in the men's long jump as Khalid Slocum set a new school record as he leaped 24'4" to win the event. Slocum breaks the record of 24'1.75" set by Maurice Bell in 1993, the longest standing NCAA event in the Hawks' indoor record book. Darius Howe (23'3"), Michael Pepper (23'3") and Dorian Jackson (21'1") would finish 4-5-6 to also score for the Hawks. 
-       Kyle Mueller finished second in the 5000-meter run by finishing in 14:33.66. This time is now the second fastest time in school history for the 5000 meters, and the highest finish in the event for Monmouth since Khari Bowen won the 5000 in 2015.
-       The distance medley relay team of Louis DiLaurenzio, Bryan Cabral, James Hoffman and Ryan Rafferty finished second with an IC4A qualifying time of 10:13.75.
-     Junior Tim Van Cauwenberge won the high jump with a clearance at 1.96m (6'5"). Ricky Casazza, Robert Hill, Harrison Bickmore and Evan Adams finished 2-3-4-5 to complete the sweep for the Hawks. 
-       Brandon Davis (55'7"), Daniel Gilligan (53'7"), and Montel Johnson (53'4") finished 5-6-7 in the weight throw finals.
-       Slocum (6.93 seconds), Miguerson Joseph (6.94 seconds) and Ibrahim Massey (7.03 seconds) all qualified for the 60-meter dash finals.
-       Freshmen Mohamed Diagourga (8.30 seconds), Naeem Green (8.43 seconds), Masfort Boima (8.50 seconds) and Van Cauwenberge (8.37 seconds) booked their place in tomorrow's 60-meter hurdles finals.
-       Nadale Buntin won his section of the 400-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 48.75 seconds. Fellow freshman Jalen Jones also moved onto the finals by winning his heat .
-       Freshman Louis DiLaurenzio posted the fastest time (1:54.61) in the 800 meter run preliminaries and will be joined by James Hoffman (1:56.0) in the finals.
-       Ryan Rafferty (4:17.60), Nick McFarland (4:18.47), Dan Maida (4:19.63) and Matt Farrell (4:21.33) earned four spots in the mile finals for Monmouth.
-       Slocum posted a time of 21.77 in the 200-meter dash preliminaries to advance. Massey (22.47 seconds) and Diagourga (22.57 seconds) also qualified for tomorrow's finals. 
-       For the women, Patrice Baston won the long jump with a mark of 19'1". Mariah Hubbard placed third to give the Hawks 6 points with a jump of 18'4".
-       Chibuzo Amonu finished second in the weight throw with a mark of 56'1". Allison Taub (50'5") and Jordan Wildermuth (49'1") also scored for the Hawks by placing 6^th and 7^th.
-       The distance medley relay team of Amber Stratz, Chandi Piiru, Brianna Stratz_ and Allie Wilson won the event with a time of 11:50.28.
-       Freshman Lauren Saifi took second in the pole vault by clearing 11' while Taylor Clark (10'5") and Madison Turosinski (9'5") scored for the Blue and White by placing 6^th and 7^th.
-       Iyanna Jenkins will represent the Hawks in the 60-meter finals by posting a time of 7.74 seconds.
-       Viviane Orleans (9.07 seconds), Natalie Negroni (9.10 seconds) and Mariah Hubbard (9.14 seconds) qualified for tomorrow's 60-meter hurdles.
-       Nioami Miranda will be the lone Hawk in the 400-meter dash finals after finishing in 58.20 seconds in the preliminaries.
-       Miranda will also represent the Hawks in the 200-meter dash finals with a qualifying time of 25.94 seconds. 
-       Brianna Stratz led a group of group of Hawks into the 800 meter run finals after she won the preliminaries in 2:14.81. Stratz will be joined by Sarah Crissman (2:14.86), Kyra Velock (2:15.20) and Chandi Piiru (2:15.64) in tomorrow's finals. 
-       Allie Wilson (4:56.93), Velock (5:02.07) and Amber Stratz (4:58.54) moved onto the finals in the mile.
NEXT UP
-       The Hawks will return to action tomorrow for day two of the MAAC Championships at the New York Armory as events are set to begin at 5 PM. The meet will be broadcast live on MAAC.tv.