LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ- The Monmouth University men's and women's track and field teams both lead after the first day of the MAAC Championships. The men scored 99.5 points on the day, 39 points ahead of the second place Rider Broncs. The women's team leads after the first day with 61 points and are 4.5 points ahead of second-place Rider. In total, the Hawks registered five first-place finishes between the women and men.
 
Montel Johnson opened up the day with the first victory for the Hawks in the men's hammer throw (57.30m). Alexis Uzoaru followed suit in the women's hammer throw coming in first with a mark of 53.30 meters, while Chibuzo Amonu came in second place (49.49 m) and Prisca Blamon came in third (45.47 m). In the men's pole vault, four Hawks took the top four spots. Connor Bennett secured first place with a school record 4.85-meter mark with Randy Showmaker (4.70m) following in second, Dalton Yuest (4.70m) in third, and Chad Smiley (4.25m) in fourth place. The Blue and White took the top four spots in the men's javelin with Mark Orlando (59.53m) finishing in first, DJ Jackson (57.14m) in second, Taylor Boorse (54.73m) in third, and Brandon Davis (43.79m) in fourth. Danielle Steff capped off the day with a first-place finish in the women's javelin (47.31m).
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"Overall, we had a solid first day of competition. There were some outstanding marks including a new school record in the pole vault by freshman Connor Bennett. We gained a few points in some areas and lost points in others. We have several people in the finals tomorrow and it should be a very exciting day!"- Monmouth Head Coach, Mike Nelson
 
- Lauren Saifi came in second place in the women's pole vault (3.40 m).
- James Hoffman (3:59.83) came in second place and Matt Bodon (4:12.60) came in sixth in the men's 1500 prelims.
- Keellyn Cummings (4:49.30) placed third and Isabella Leak (4:47.59) placed fifth in the women's 1500 prelims.
-In the 110 hurdle prelims, Naeem Green (15.02) came in second, Mohamed Diagourga (15.10) came in fifth, and Masfort Boima (16.30) came in tenth.
- In the 100 hurdles prelims, Isabelle Warren (14.89) came in third followed by Viviane Orleans (15.07) in fourth.
- In the 400 Dash prelims, finishing second was Jalen Jones (49.25) and placing sixth was Matt Martino (50.93).
- In the 400 Dash prelims, Sydney Squier (59.81) took fourth and Ashley Navarro (59.01) finished fifth.
- In the men's long jump, the third place finisher was  Romaine Rhoden (7.11 m), with fourth place going to Khalid Slocum (7.02 m), sixth place going to Colson Martin (6.80 m) and seventh place going to DJ Jackson (6.80 m).
- In the women's 100-meter dash prelims, Brianna Rubio (12.37) was second and Thalia Dyer (12.60) was third.
- The Men's 800 prelims saw second place finisher Ian Moore (1:54.12), fourth place finisher Louis DiLaurenzio (1:54.13) and sixth place finisher Stone Caraccio (1:53.39).
- Katie Locker (2:14.79) was first in the women's 800 prelims, while second was Sydney Todd (2:15.54).
- Micah Wood (54.53) was first in the men's 400 hurdles prelims, third was Daniel Fenton (55.50), fourth was Naeem Green (55.61), and seventh was Evan Rankl (56.57).
- In the women's 400 Hurdles prelims, Kerri Powers (1:07.92) was sixth and seventh marked Jessica Wisowaty (1:10.71).
- The men's 200 dash prelims saw Jalen Jones (21.72) rank first, and fifth went to Mohamed Diagourga (21.96).
- The women's 200 dash prelims had Syndey Squier (25.46) in third and Brianna Rubio (25.30) in fourth.
- The women's 3000 steeplechase fourth place finisher was Giulia Pezzolla with a time of 11:30.53.
- Finally, in the men's 10,000 meter, Carrington Retzios (30:35.14) listed seventh with Sebastian Reed (31:05.43) eighth.
 
NEXT UP
The Hawks will be back in action tomorrow for the second day of the MAAC Championships. Coverage of the action will be broadcast live on ESPN+ at 1:20 PM.