STATEN ISLAND, NY – The Monmouth University men's and women's track and field teams were back in action Saturday evening for the UPenn Select Meet at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, NY.

The opening meet of 2023 is the first since December 10 when the Hawks competed at the Wagner Seahawk Shootout.
 
The Hawks took first place in four events, placed second in four more, and added five performances to the all-time top-ten list during the meet hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. The women's squad performed particularly well, collecting three of the four total event wins and four of the five top-ten list additions.

Redshirt senior Ashley Navarro had Monmouth's most impressive performance of the day placing first in the women's mile with the school's second-best time of 4:46.55. Louis DiLaurenzio added the school's fifth-best men's time at 4:08.44, making it a clean sweep for the Hawks in the mile event.
 
Veronica Chainov won the women's high jump by clearing the bar at 1.71m, while Vanessa Wood won her second shot put event in as many meets with a throw of 13.37m, a new personal best.

Yasmeen Tinsley will be making two new appearances on the top-ten list after finishing in second place in the women's 60m hurdles and third in the 400m. Her time of 8.60 in the hurdles is good enough for second all-time in school history, while her 56.85 finish in the 400m is the 10^th best.

Marisa Kilgarriff earned the final top-ten performance with a new personal best in the women's 3000m at 9:53.39 - the fifth fastest time in Monmouth history.

Other notable performances included Brandon Muir placing second in the men's 60m dash with a time of 6.93 and Mujeeb Ali also earning a second-place finish in the men's shot put recording a distance of 15.49m.

For jumps, Annie Rutledge placed third in the women's long jump thanks to a leap of 5.30m, and Bryce Boddie made his presence known in the men's triple jump by placing third with a personal best jump of 14.23m. Dalton Yeust and Connor Bennett tied for fourth in the men's pole vault as they each cleared the bar at 4.50m.
 
Mickey Baker, Sydney Todd, Grace Mary Kearns, and Chantel Osley teamed up and impressed in the women's 4x400m relay by placing second with a time of 4:00.76.

EVENT WINNERS
Men's Mile: Louis DiLaurenzio – 4:08.44
Women's Mile: Ashley Navarro – 4:46.55
Women's High Jump: Veronica Chainov – 1.71m
Women's Shot Put: Vanessa Wood – 13.37m 

ALL-TIME TOP-TENS
Men's Mile: Louis DiLaurenzio – 4:08.44, fifth
Women's 60mH: Yasmeen Tinsley – 8.60, second
Women's 400m: Yasmeen Tinsley – 56.85, tenth
Women's 3000m: Marisa Kilgarriff – 9:53.39, fifth
Women's Mile: Ashley Navarro – 4:46.55, second
 
QUOTES
"It was a solid start to the 2023 portion of our track & field season. The overall goal of this first meet is to establish a baseline and then work to improve throughout the season. We had some impressive performances today with five new top ten all-time marks and a handful of victories. We'll look to continue to build from this success. Fly Hawks!" – Head Coach Mike Nelson
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks will travel back to Staten Island on Saturday, January 21, for the Villanova Invitational.