On Friday, Dec. 9, the Monmouth University men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to the Armory track in New York City to compete in their first meet of the indoor season at the Rutgers Holiday Classic.
The Hawks brought the heat as they picked up a total of four event wins and six top-ten all-time performances for Monmouth throughout the meet hosted by the Scarlet Knights. The men’s side racked up three event wins, producing three historical program finishes, while the women’s side brought home one event win allowing them to pick up two top-ten all-time performances. In addition to the team’s success on the podium, 11 Hawks set personal bests during their first meet of the season.
Graduate student Jalen Jones clocked in a time of 1:22.14 to take home the win in the men’s 600 meter.
His strong efforts put him on the top-ten list, sitting in fifth all-time right next to his teammate, sophomore Jordan Ricketts, who dashed a time of 1:23.36 in the same event putting him tenth all-time.
After not seeing much action due to a nagging injury last season, redshirt junior Ian Moore showed no signs of rust as he won the men’s 1000 meter with a blazing time of 2:29.11. The men’s side continued to build their momentum during the 3000 meter competition thanks to a win from Tennessee Tremain with a time of 8:19.01 which also put him in the history books, sitting third all-time in the program.
The women’s side had several impressive performances from underclassmen as they led the team with an event win and two top-ten marks. Sophomore Yasmeen Tinsley opened up her season as she competed in the 60 meter hurdles where her time of 8.73 allowed her to notch a win.
Also on the track, sophomore Rett Schnoor clocked in a time of 7.82 where her efforts allowed her to make the all-time top ten list at tenth place. On the field, sophomore Lexi Baumgartner jumped a mark of 3.50 meters in the pole vault. This performance was strong enough to seat her seventh all-time at Monmouth.
Head Coach Mike Nelson had a mixed review on the team’s first meet of the season: “I’m glad we had the opportunity to compete today. The December meets are always a mixed bag of results. We had some great performances, and we learned some things we need to work on. Overall, I was pleased with how many personal bests were set. What’s great is we compete again in seven days at the Ocean Breeze facility. We’ll take the lessons of today and apply them to that meet.”
Watch out for this season as the men’s and women’s track and field team continue to try and make a mark in the CAA conference.
Up next, the Hawks will compete at the Wagner Seahawk Shootout on Friday, Dec. 9 in Staten Island, NY. It will be their second and final meet of the fall semester before a month-long break for the upcoming holidays.
