The Monmouth men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Baltimore, Md., for the annual Towson Invitational at the Johnny Unitas Stadium from April 1-2. The Hawks finished the weekend with strong results.
The men and women continued to build on performances from the previous weekend and earned a combined eleven wins in the annual event and set eight new all-time top-tens. The men had six first-place finishes and two new top-tens while the women added five wins and six all-time top-tens.
The Hawks Mujeeb Ali and Danielle Steff earned Outdoor Track and Field Performers of the week honors from the MAAC on March 30. Both athletes were event winners in the Towson Invitational.
Three Monmouth standouts in the throwing events were Ali, Steff and Brisca Blamon. Ali earned his first place finish with a discus throw of 48.0m and Steff’s 45.90m javelin throw placed her in first for the women’s event. Prisca Blamon’s discus throw of 41.24m puts her ninth in Monmouth’s Track and Field Top Ten.
For the pole vault events, Connor Bennett jumped 4.51m and earned the event winner for the men’s group. Freshman Abby Boggs improved her all time top-ten distance from last week and jumped 3.41m for the eighth spot in all-time.
In the high jump, Monmouth sophomore Keven Kevelier cleared an event winning 2.05m. The jump tops his previous career high of 1.86m from March of 2021 and places him tied for sixth in all-time top-tens.
Veronica Chainov had another outstanding meet and was the women’s high jump event winner with a 1.76m jump. Chainov’s jump tied the school record and set a freshman record. The freshman athlete now holds the freshman records for both the indoor and outdoor high jump.
Senior Mohamed Diagourage went 14.96m in the men’s triple jump. The career high distance was the event winner and earned Diagourage fourth in the all-time top-ten for Monmouth. Sophomore Izzy Warren had a career high distance of 11.88m. Warren placed second overall in the event and earned the fifth spot in the all-time top-ten.
In the steeplechase event, Monmouth’s Marisa Kilgarriff finished the 3000m distance first with a time of 11:31.69. Kilgarriff’s time also places her fifth in the top-ten. Teammate Rachael Mongeau also finished the 3000m event with a strong time of 11:45.74 and seventh in the all-time top-ten.
Monmouth 1500 dominated the field over the weekend. The first eight finishers in the men’s events were Hawks and the women had seven runners in the top ten of their event.
Senior Louis DiLaurenzio finished with a time of 3:55.09 to win the men’s 1500m. Sophomore Stone Caraccio was just 0.02 second behind with a finishing time of 3:55.11.
Monmouth’s Declan McDonnell, Tyler Clifford, James Hoffman, Matt Bodon, Sebastien Reed, and Tennessee Tremain all finished in the top ten of the event.
The women’s 1500m event winner was Ashley Navarro. Navarro finished with a time of 4:38.59.
Monmouth’s Katie Locker finished second with a time of 4:39.11. Hawks Keellyn Cummings, Sydney Todd and Grace Kearns finished the race in the top ten.
The Monmouth team also took control in the 800m. Louis DiLaurenzio won his second event of the meet with a time of 1:53.98. Junior James Hoffman was close behind for a second place finish and four other Hawks finished in the top ten.
The women’s 800m event was won by Monmouth’s Katie Locker with a time of 2:14.50. Junior Keellyn Cummings finished second. Hawks Kate Conwell, Isabella Leak and Chantell Osley also finished in the top ten.
Head Coach Mike Nelson said, “This weekend’s meet at Towson was an excellent tune-up as we build towards the most competitive part of our outdoor season. We had some great performances in less than ideal conditions. Also, it was great to compete at a future CAA school and get that experience.”
Next up, the Hawks travel to Bethlehem, PA for the Lehigh Invitational on Saturday, April 9 starting at 10 am.
