Monmouth’s track and field opened their 2015 outdoor season this past weekend at Wake Forest University on Friday and Saturday. The meet was considered a success as several Hawks posting qualifying marks for ECAC/IC4A.
We know we have a lot to work on in the next few weeks, but this was a great start for the group who competed this weekend,” said Head Coach Joe Compagni.
For the men, Jalen Walker and Ahmier Dupree took fifth in the preliminaries in their events before upping their finish to third in the finals. Walker ran the 110 hurdles in 14.69 seconds in the prelims, lowering that to 14.43 to come in third in the finals. Dupree ran 10.89 in the prelims in the 100 before dropping that to 10.87 for third place in finals later that day. Both Walker and Dupree qualified for IC4A’s. “Even though it was the first meet, we were more than prepared.” Dupree said.
The men’s 4×100 group of Walker, junior Eric Kahana, freshman Bryan Sosoo and Dupree also posted an IC4A time of 42.28 to take fourth. Kahana also ran 22.14 in the 200.
Junior Geordan Ferguson finished third in the 400 hurdles in 53.86 seconds, also an IC4A qualifying time. “It felt good running a very close time to where I left off last year,” Ferguson said. “I expect big things for myself and the team this outdoor season, and today was a great start to achieving that.”
Senior captain Ben Boyd took fifth in the 400 with a time of 48.07 seconds, Boyd also ran the 800 running a 1:55. Sosoo took ninth in the triple jump with a leap of 45’3.5”.
MU had three top-10 finishers in the shot put, first by senior captain Taylor Bernstein, who took fourth with a shot of 53’5.75”. Junior Tevin Kirby-Stewart took ninth at 51’7.25”, and freshman Corey Murphy was 10th, throwing 49’6.5”. Bernstein also took fourth at 163’6” in the discus to qualify for IC4A’s. In the javelin, Senior Zach Torrell finished third with a throw of 209’10”, and freshman William Civatte was ninth at 183’11”. Torrell’s mark was an IC4A qualifying standard.
Junior Troy Andretta was fourth in the hammer throw with a throw of 170’8”.
On the women’s side, Senior Kelsey Reese qualified for ECAC’s and the NCAA First Round in the javelin with a mark of 159’9” to take third place. Freshman Stephanie Roones also qualified for ECAC’s and U.S. Junior Nationals with her seventh place finish in the javelin, throwing 140’7”. Senior Captain Taylor Johnson took first in the discus with a throw of 156’8” and junior Aziza Ahmed took fifth with a throw of 144’3” both throwing the ECAC mark. Johnson was strong in three events, taking sixth in the shot put 42’8.75” and seventh in the hammer throw 154’2”. Freshman Alicia Hester joined Johnson in the hammer, taking 13th at 137’7”.
Senior captain Kate Frye ran 1:02.41 in the 400 hurdles, coming in third place and an ECAC qualifier.
“Everyone who competed this weekend really got some good marks, especially for the first meet of the season. Meets like this are great indicators of how well the rest of the season will go,” Frye said.
Junior Brittany Papa won the B-section of the pole vault with a jump of 10’10”, with Senior captain Lauren and sophomore Casey Sturts finishing sixth and 11th in the pole vault invitational. Sturts won the high jump with a leap of 5’3”. Sophomore McKenna Coakley claimed fifth at 4’11”, and sophomore Noel Labb was 10th with a jump of 4’9”.
The team’s Middle Distance and Distance runners did not compete this weekend.
The Hawks will compete at home next weekend, with Monmouth hosting the 20th Annual Season Opener on Friday and Saturday.
