New York, N.Y. (January 26, 2007)--Injuries on both the men's and women's sides may have denied Jasper Track and Field a legitimate chance at capturing a team title, but they did not prevent Manhattan from making its presence strongly felt at the annual Metropolitan Indoor Championships on Friday evening at the 168th Street Armory.
In what was the first of four main championship meets Manhattan perennially competes in, the men finished third out of 13 teams with 120 points, while the women took fifth place with a team score of 72. A healthy number of Manhattan's points were courtesy of first-year Jaspers who posted their best performances to date wearing Kelly Green and White.
Shannon Radermacher, who has plenty of big meet experience from her undergraduate years at Michigan State University, won the women's 800m crown, and earned a ticket to another championship meet in the process by surpassing the qualifying standard for the ECAC Championships with her time of 2:13.36. Megan Radermacher, who like her twin sister Shannon is using her remaining athletic eligibility to compete for the Jaspers after earning an undergraduate degree from Michigan State, nearly joined her sister as a Met individual champion, finishing second in the 1000m (2:58.04).
The two sisters would later join sophomore Sarah Rogers and freshman Jelena Rankovic in conquering the women's 4x800m relay. Rogers also contributed to the Lady Jaspers' point total with her fifth place finish in the mile, clocking in at 5:19.95. Junior Eryka Perreault was less than one second off of Rogers' pace to claim sixth with a time of 5:20.53.
Freshman miler Milos Vuckovic clocked in at 4:11.95 to capture the men's crown, and later, completed an impressive double by taking fourth in the 800m run with a time of 1:53.96.
As the Vuckovic and the Radermacher sisters were getting their first taste of the Mets, fellow Jasper Milan Jotanovic was busy defending his 2006 Metropolitan Men's Shot Put title. The junior thrower, who also earned NCAA All-American honors last winter, easily repeated with a top mark of 18.96m, nearly 2.5 meters greater than his closest competition, Paul Applegate of Rutgers University.
Senior Zoran Loncar, who was on the back end of the Jaspers' one through four sweep of the men's weight throw at the 2006 Mets, finished atop the field on Friday with a mark of 18.99m. Right behind the native of Serbia was teammate and fellow countryman Seid Mujanovic. A freshman, Mujanovic set a new personal record of 17.71m.
Four of Manhattan's eight individual titles came in the jumps highlighted by sophomore Kosta Randjic and senior Tiina Magi bringing the men's and women's triple jump titles to Riverdale. With 2006 Met champ Dexter Jules unable to defend his title because of injury, Randjic made certain the men's crown would stay in Jasper hands with a winning mark of 15.06m. Teammate Nick Newman, a senior, registered a mark of 14.25m to take third place in the event shortly after he repeated as long jump champ with a mark of 7.24m.
Magi, who was forced to settle for second in the event last year, earned a dramatic victory this time around after fouling her first two attempts. Her third try was measured at 12.12m, 25 centimeters better than runner-up Kerstin Greene of cross-boro rival Fordham University. Junior Shanelle Lawrence took fifth in the event with a top leap of 11.17m. Magi also earned points with a fourth place finish in the high jump (J1.60) and by taking sixth in the long jump (5.30m).
Senior high jumper Chris Sole, who set his personal best of 2.14m at the 2006 Metropolitan Outdoor Championships, only needed to clear 2.01m to capture the indoor crown.
Darnell Douglas had the best night of any Jasper in the sprints. Douglas was the first non-Rutgers Scarlet Knight finisher in the 200m, taking fourth at 22.43s. Joe Cruz also finished fourth with a time of 8.36s in the 60m hurdles.
Freshman Lindsay Southard earned distance points for Manhattan as did junior Tom Murphy. With a time of 18:28.27, Southard was fourth in the women's 5K. Only Iona College's Mathew Kiplagat and New York University's Jon Phillips were the only two men to best Murphy's 3K time of 8:48.62.
