Over the course of March 24-27, the Bowling team finished their season at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships at Pinboy’s at the Beach Bowling Alley in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The team won against #5 ranked Morgan State on Friday 2-1 and beat the University of Alabama Birmingham 2-1 on Sat., but was ultimately eliminated in the tournament by #2 ranked Delaware State 2-0 that same day at 1 p.m.
During the Morgan State game, the team edged a winning score of 965-919. In the first match’s traditional scores, Jenna Lehrer and Saige Yamada tied with a 210, followed by Jamie Phelan at 201. Siyah Sweeney scored 175 while Danielle Seaman followed with a close 169.
Although the team lost to NC A&T, during the traditional score Saige Yamada had a dominating performance posting a 269. Yamada earned ten strikes (eight of them were in a row) and two spares.
The team’s dance into the MEAC tournament came to an end when Delaware State won against the team in the final four. During the first match’s traditional scores, Seaman finished her bowling career as the team leader scoring a 201. Following Seaman closely was Phelan at 200. Yamada earned a score of 182, while sophomore Mafe Aguiluz bowled a 160 and Lehrer closed in a 158.
Director of Bowling, Karen Grygiel said, “I’m proud of this group and the solid season we had. Our student-athletes made a lot of progress on the lanes and I’m very excited for the future.”
Monmouth closed their season with a record of 54-53 (10-6 MEAC).
Opening their season was the track and field team who kicked off their outdoor season at Kessler Stadium. The team achieved thirteen top ten performances and ten event winners. Before the meet on Saturday, all the seniors received roses from the coaches at the annual senior day celebration for their contributions to the program. Head Coach Mike Nelson noted, “The senior recognition ceremony was special. We were able to honor the seniors that have given so much to our program; and they have all left a lasting legacy.”
In the throwing events, fifth-year student Danielle Steff, smashed the facility record and won throwing 48.52 meters in the javelin throw. Sophomore Natalie Rolon-Issa won the discus throw with a length of 40.90 meters. Junior Mujeeb Ali also had a successful day, winning his shot-put final with a throw of 16.49 meters.
For the pole vault events, Dalton Yeust jumped 4.75 meters to tie for fourth all time in school history. The freshmen women also had a strong showing. Gretel Jelmert jumped 3.50 meters, won the event and earned the freshman record while Abby Boggs jumped 3.35 meters to tie for tenth all time.
In the distance events, Stone Caraccio, who was ranked 19 coming into the race, unexpectedly won the 5000 meters with a blazing time of 14:46, making the top ten list. Tennessee Tremain also ran a top ten time of 14:50 in the 5k. For the women’s 5000, Mackenzie Delahunty also won her event with a time of 17:34.
In the women’s event, Junior Giulia Pezzola ran an 11:28 to tie for fourth all time to earn the win. In the sprints, Yasmeen Tinsley ran 14.38 in the 100m hurdles to earn the freshman record.
In the triple jump, senior Mohamed Diagouraga won the event with a length of 14.77 meters. Senior Romaine Rhoden also dominated in the long jump, winning the field event in 6.68 meters. In the high jump, Veronika Chainov in the high jump cleared 1.70 meters to win the event, while in the men’s event Rickie Casazza was 2.05 meters.
Head Coach Mike Nelson noted about the weekend, “I was thrilled with the way things went today at our home opener. We had over 20 teams participating and there was great competition across the board. Putting on an outdoor track & field meet in March can be a very challenging endeavor. I want to say a big thank you to all the support staff that made today possible. The Monmouth family stepped up and we’re so appreciative of their efforts.”
Looking ahead, the Hawks will travel to Baltimore to compete at the Towson University Invitational from April 1-2.
