track and field pic
Sports

Track and Field Competes in Two Events

track and field picColonial Relays

The Monmouth University men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams were at two different meets this weekend, with half the team competing at the Colonial Relays for track events and the Liberty Collegiate Invitational for field events.

At the Colonial Relays competing in just track events while the field event athletes were at Liberty, the women finished 11th and the men 12th of more than 50 colleges. The men’s 4×800 group of Senior Andrew Langille, senior Alex Leight, junior Domenick D’Agostino, and sophmore Dylan Capwell ran a IC4A qualifying time of 7:32 to win.

Also qualifying for IC4A’s was the men’s 4×100 team of senior Jalen, freshman Bryan Sosoo, junior Eric Kahana, and junior Ahmier Dupree finishing fifth with a time of 41.97. The men’s spring medley relay of Dupree, Kahana, junior John Malespina and senior captain Ben Boyd ran 3:28.84 for third. Walker took third in the 110 hurdles with a personal best of 14.36 seconds.

“This weekend was a great experience to compete with good competition, allowing me to see where I am at this point in the season, and what I need to improve on going forward,” Walker said.

Running one of the top times in Monmouth history was the 4×1500 team of junior Graham Huggins-Filozof, senior Khari Bowen, junior Kevin French and junior Zach Iannarelli took eighth in 16:22.22. Langille also took sixth in the 800 at 1:53, and D’Agostino was seventh in the 1500 with a time of 3:52. Huggins-Filozof also finished 10th in the steeple in his first time in the event.

For the women, the 4×1500 won for the first time in school history, with the second best time in school history of 19:17, was the relay team of sophomore Molly McKeon, freshman Danielle Leavitt, junior Sydney Engelberger and senior Mackenzie. The 4×800 of freshman Allie Wilson, junior Kendal Hand, sophomore Jenna Cupp, and sophomore Tionna Garner took second overall with an ECAC qualifying time of 8:57.63, the second fastest time in school history. 

Another ECAC qualifier was the women’s 4×400 consisting of sophomore Antoinette Isekenegbe, sophomore Nia Driver, sophomore McKenna Coakley and Garner, finishing in 3:50.09 coming in fourth. Garner was also second overall in the 800, running 2:11.26. Senior captain Kate Frye took third in the 400 hurdles. Freshman Domoah Kutu-Akoi took seventh in the 100 and ninth in the long jump.

Liberty Collegiate Invitational

For the men at Liberty, senior Erik Anderson won the high jump with a mark of 6’8.25”, and sophomore Daniel Jefferson took fourth. Junior Liam Vogt won the long jump with a mark of 23’5.25” and finished sixth in the triple jump. The javelin saw MU take the spots, led by senior Zach Torrell at 203’4”for first and sophomore Kris Horton was third, followed by junior Stephen Adkisson, freshman Will Civatte, and junior Chris Norcross.

Junior Spencer Dimock took third in the discus, throwing 155’, followed by freshman teammate Corey Murphy, who finished fifth. Sophomore Troy Andretta joined Dimock in the hammer with top five finishes, with Andretta taking third at 177’9” and Dimock in fifth. In shot put, Senior Taylor Bernstein took second with a throw of 56’, followed by Murphy in third and junior Tevin Kirby-Stewart in fifth. Adkisson won the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.17.

For the women in the hammer throw, senior captain Taylor Johnson won with a throw of 167’10 and senior teammate Amber Brown took second with a throw of 150’3”. Freshman Kennisha Okereke, junior Aziza Ahmed, and freshman Alicia Hester all placed in the top ten in hammer. Johnson also won the discus with an ECAC mark of 158’5”, and took fourth in the shot put at 42’3.50”. Ahmed also finished seventh in shot put.” Even though we were divided this weekend between two meets it was actually the first time this season that we competed as a full team. At this point everyone has opened up in their main events and some people have already qualified for big meets. Now the focus will be to come together and have a strong showing at Princeton this Saturday in a scored meet with 3 other solid teams,” Johnson said. 

In the javelin, senior Kelsey Reese and freshman Stephanie Roones went one-two, with marks of 141’9” and 134’7”.  Senior captain Lauren McDonald finished fifth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.48 seconds. She also was tied for second in pole vault with a jump of 11’5.75”. Sophomore Casey Sturts tied for sixth at 10’11.75”, and also took third in the high jump at 5’3”. Senior Kim Price took seventh in the triple jump. 

“We were not very sharp overall on the first day at Colonial Relays, but we put together some great relays today in events that we don’t always get to do,” said Head Coach Joe Compagni. “Our field event athletes put up some very strong early season marks at Liberty as well.”

The Hawks will compete in the Princeton Quad Meet next weekend.

PHOTO COURTESY of Mel Lewis