Track and Field sent four current athletes and one former athlete to Staten Island, New York to compete in the U.S. National Indoor Championships this past weekend at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.
The women’s team sent both graduate student Allie Wilson and senior Brianna Stratz to compete in the 1000-meter run. The men’s team sent redshirt seniors Corey Murphy and Bryan Sosoo to compete in the shot put event and the 60-meter dash, respectively. Additionally, former Hawk Dylan Capwell (‘18) competed in the men’s 1000-meter run as a professional with the Atlanta Track Club.
Both female athletes made their mark in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships last week. Wilson won the mile while Stratz won the 800-meter run as well as being a part of the winning 4×800 meter relay team.
Murphy is also coming off of a winning weekend as he not only won the shot put event, but set a new meet record aswell. His mark of 64’6” from the MAAC Championships is currently ranked ninth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Wilson ran in the third heat on Saturday, Feb. 23 and placed second with a time of 2:42.51, breaking her school record and coming behind unattached runner Laura Roesler (2:42.20). This time qualified Wilson to move on to the next day of events.
On Sunday, Feb. 24, Wilson came in sixth overall with a time of 2:41.76. With this time, Wilson re-broke her school record in the 1000-meter run which she had set in the preliminaries the day before.
Sratz also ran in the third heat on Saturday and crossed the finish line at 2:45.44 to earn her seventh place.
Sosoo ran as an unattached runner in the 60-meter dash and came in fifth place in the second heat with a time of 6.76. This time qualified him for the second round where he ran a 6.79 and came in 11th place, missing a spot in the finals by only .06 seconds.
Murphy finished eleventh in the shot put event with a mark of 17.98 on Saturday.
Former Hawk, Capwell, finished the men’s 1000-meter in 2:20.84, placing him in third. This time qualified him to move on to the final round of the event, in which he placed fifth with a time of 2:21.55.
“Having five of our athletes at USA’s this weekend was a great experience for them and tremendous positive exposure for Monmouth,” said Head Coach Joe Compagni. “Allie handled the challenge of a fast pace and a world-class field very well. Dylan went after it, leading most of the ace until a wild finish with seven guys finishing within a second of each other.”
The Hawks also had some athletes achieve Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) qualifying times at the Last Chance meet at the New York Armory on Friday, Feb. 22.
Freshman Randy Showmaker won the pole vault event with a mark of 15’5”, qualifying him for the IC4A. Freshman Mohamed Diagourga ran a time of 8.37 seconds and placed third, which is his season-high time.
Senior Chole Angelini cleared 1.60 meters in the high jump, which tied her for second. Freshman Matt Bodon placed fourth in the mile with a personal best time of 4:20.12.
This upcoming Saturday and Sunday, the Hawks will head up to Boston to compete in the IC4A/ECAC Championships. At last year’s ECAC Championships, the women finished fourth while the men finished sixth at the previous year’s IC4A Championships.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
