The Monmouth University Men’s and Women’s track & field teams both competed at the Villanova Invitational, which was hosted at the Ocean Breeze facility in Staten Island, New York this past weekend [Feb. 1].
It was a successful weekend for both teams, most notably for the weight throwers. Junior Montel Johnson and senior Daniel Gilligan of the men’s team finished in the top two spots in weight throwing for the entire meet, with Johnson throwing 17.80m and Gilligan throwing 17.05m. Junior Chibuzo Amonu had an astonishing 17.07m toss for the women’s team, which was plenty to secure a decisive win in the weight throw.
Monmouth also had impressive finishes in the men’s and women’s shot put events. For the men’s team, fifth-year senior Andrew Tummino was able to secure second place with a toss of 17.02m. Jordan Wildermuth of the women’s team threw 13.17m, which was enough to snag fourth place.
Aside from the various victories in the field portion, Monmouth’s runners also saw much success at the invitational. In the men’s 200-meters, Monmouth had two members place in the top five. Senior Ibrahim Massey came in third with a time of 22.37 and was trailed closely by freshman Michael Cannon Jr., who finished with a time of 22.45 in fourth place.
The men had another close finish in the long jump. Sophomores DJ Jackson and Romaine Rhoden both had impressive jumps, finishing in second and third, respectively, with marks of 7.10m and 6.93m. Fellow sophomore teammate Mohamed Diagourga also had a great finish with a jump of 14.19m in the triple jump, which secured a fourth place finish.
In the men’s 400-meters, freshman Micah Wood finished with a time of 49.32, which landed him in fourth place behind Nicardo Blake of Monroe College (48.78), Leon Clarke of Essex CC (48.33), and Kimorie Shearman of Long Island University (47.66). Freshman teammate Ian Moore also ran well, finishing third in the 800-meters with a time of 1:52.76. The men’s team also saw success in the 4×400, where Monmouth’s group of Jalen Jones, Micah Wood, Ian Moore, and Louis DiLaurenzio ran a time of 3:18.49 to win third place.
Senior Ryan Rafferty ran a 2:28.09 in the men’s 1000-meters, which was enough to secure a fourth place finish right behind Anton Idhammar of Penn (2:28.03), Mason Gatewood of Penn (2:27.27), and Miller Anderson of Villanova (2:27.18). For the women, freshman Sammi Ragenklint competed in the one mile and finished third with a time of 5:02.57.
“Another step in the right direction for the team,” said Monmouth Head Coach Mike Nelson. “We had several PR’s, event champions and new IC4A/ECAC qualifiers. We know the areas where we need to improve as we build for the championship portion of the season. We’ll be right back at Ocean Breeze in six days. It will be important to recover well and then bring the energy next Friday.”
The Hawks will pick up where they left off as the blue and white return to Ocean Breeze to compete in the UAlbany Winter Classic on Feb. 7, with events set to start at 12:00 p.m.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
