After breaking three school records while in Penn State and competing at home, Monmouth University track and field sent some of their athletes from the team up to Boston, Massachusetts to compete in both the Scarlet and White Invitational at Boston University and Crimson Elite at Harvard University. Others on the team competed at the Villanova Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.
At the Scarlet and White Invitational, the men finished third right behind Mississippi State (84 points) and Albany (73.5 points) out of more than 20 schools, with a total of 72 points, and the women also placed third with 64 points.
While at Boston University, a couple of our lady Hawks finished their events with Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) qualifying times. Junior Chandi Piiru won the 500-meter dash with an ECAC qualifying time of 1:12.85, and senior Domoah Kutu-Akoi ran with a time of 7.74 seconds, placing third. Senior Allie Wilson also ran an ECAC qualifying time of 2:09.08 in the 800-meter, placing sixth. Juniors Amber Stratz and Brianna Stratz finished first and second in the 1000-meters by finishing with times of 2:49.80 and 2:50.84. As for the men, senior Bryan Sosoo won the 60-meter dash in 6.68 seconds, and junior Bryan Cabral finished sixth in the 1000-meter run with a time of 2:28.14.
At the Crimson Elite at Harvard, the Hawks only participated in the field events in this ten event meet, but still shone through and finished second to Harvard, and the women placed fourth.
Senior Corey Murphy won the shot put with a mark of 58’10.75” and teammates junior Andrew Tummino and sophomore Brandon Davis finished third and fourth, respectively, with marks of 54’7.25” and 53’11.75”. Fifth year Tim Wilson and senior Vincent Santarsiero placed first and second in the men’s weight throw with throws of 63’3.5” and 53’6.5”. Sosoo placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 47’1.5” and senior Dean McDonald finished fifth in the pole vault by clearing 14’9”. Although the women placed fourth, they still had very impressive statistics. Seniors Kennisha Okereke and Alicia Hester placed second and third in the weight throw with marks of 57’3.75” and 56’11.25”. Junior Allison Taub placed second in the shot put with a toss of 46’2”, and fifth year Casey Sturts cleared 11’7.75” to finish fourth.
At the Villanova Invitational, the lady Hawks really showed us what they are made of. Freshman Kyra Velock finished in the mile as the third best collegian runner with an ECAC qualifying time of 4:53.45. Junior Dana Lynch placed seventh in the large 60-meter hurdles, and places third through fifth in women’s weight throw consisted of Hawk seniors Taylor Thrunk with a throw of 14.35 meters and Justine Morgan with 13.94m, as well as sophomore Eryn Handy with 13.31 meters.
“We had some impressive moments at all three venues, and it was great to be near the top of the standings amongst an excellent field of schools in Boston,” said Head Coach Joe Compagni. “We know we need to execute better in some areas in the weeks ahead, though, and we’ll get back to work on that Monday [Feb. 5].”
Next Friday, Feb. 9, the Hawks will travel to New York City to compete in both the Fastrack National Invitational as well as the NYU Invitational.
PHOTO COURTESY of B51/Mark Brown
