Coming off a successful fall season, the Monmouth Hawks have looked to continue their ways in the winter months.
The Hawk’s stars of Track and Field have made that possible. The indoor season started with a bang; multiple school records were broken at the Penn Opener. David Strong managed to obtain 5,235 points in the Heptathlon, breaking the school’s previous overall record. Yasmeen Tinsley broke two records the same weekend, running the 60m hurdles in 8.39 seconds. In the 300m dash, not only did Tinsley break the school’s record, but she also became the first woman in program history to run the event in under 40.0 seconds. Her final time was 38.24 seconds.
Strong and Tinsley’s strong opening performances led them both to earn CAA honors on Dec. 10. Strong earned the Men’s Field Athlete of the Week award and Tinsley earned Women’s Track Athlete of the Week.
The following weekend at the Seahawk Shootouts, the exhilarating performances continued. Veronica Chainov set a new school record in high jump, with a height of 1.80m. Another dashing record set for the men’s, as Aiden Baldelli set a time of 34.41 seconds in the 300m dash.
Tinsley was not done with her record setting ways as she ran a 7.48 second 60m dash to earn yet another school record. Tinsley and Chainov’s performances earned them CAA Track and Field Athletes of the Week on the women’s side. The Hawks swept the CAA weekly awards following the Seahawk Shootouts. On the men’s side sprinter Ahmad Brock captured Track Athlete of the Week while pole vaulter Dalton Yeust earned Field Athlete of the Week honors to round off the Hawk’s sweep.
To start off the new year, the distance runners got the spotlight. Declan McDonnell ran the 3000m with a time of 8:07.47 to earn himself his own school record. Though he has yet to join the record breaking club this season, Yeust was named CAA Men’s Field Athlete of the Week for a second time earlier this month with his league leading heights.
With a visit back to Philly for the Penn Quaker Invitational, Tinsley and Strong decided that they would return to their record-breaking ways. Tinsley did so with a 23.77 second 200m dash. Strong broke his own Heptathlon record, outscoring himself with 5,323 points. This performance earned Strong another spot as CAA Athlete of the Week and moved him to No. 16 on the NCAA Division I performance list.
Last weekend at the Dr. Sander Invitational, Tinsley decided to give a go at setting a new personal time and did so successfully in the 60m with a final time of 8.33 seconds. She broke the school’s 400m dash record with a sub 55 second time of 54.39. The Hawks have been protecting the nest all of the indoor season and look to continue to do so in the outdoor season as Spring semester rolls on.
