New York, N.Y. (February 16, 2007)?Despite the absence of several potential scorers, Manhattan Men's Track and Field still found more than enough points to capture its 11th consecutive MAAC Indoor Team Championship on Friday night at the 168th Street Armory. With 176 points compared to runner-up Rider University's 134, the Jaspers cruised to the title and took down two meet records in the process.
Early on, however, Manhattan's streak of 11 straight team titles appeared to be in serious jeopardy. With Nick Newman, Margus Must, and Andreas Weber all stuck on the sidelines, the Jaspers needed to find a way to regain some of those lost points. When last year's MAAC Indoor Most Outstanding Performer for field events Dexter Jules was on his back in the long jump pit with a hamstring injury and the 2006 MAAC Outdoor Most Outstanding Performer for running events Darnell Douglas cramped up in the 200m the need to make up points became even greater.
“We were banged up going in, and then when DJ went down and Darnell pulled up, everyone else had to step up for us to win and they did,” said
Prior to experiencing cramps only 20 meters into the 200m race, Douglas posted one of the best individual performances of the meet en route to breaking a 17-year old meet record in the 400m dash. The senior sprinter, who emerged as one of the league's best by winning the 200m and 400m at the 2006 MAAC Outdoor Championships, clocked in at 48.75 to capture the crown and overtake former Jasper Steve Neal's record from 1990.
Only 20 minutes after pulling up in the 200m,
“It was just some cramping, nothing too serious. I knew I needed to try my best to get ready for the DMR in case we needed the points,” commented the senior sprinter. “All I was thinking about was trying to help the team and a championship was up for grabs.”
After the shot and high jump results were officially factored into the team scoring, minutes before the DMR's start,
Sole successfully defended his high jump title by clearing 2.06m, a mark that meets the IC4A standard. Tkachenko, who also was the runner-up in the pole vault (4.35m), was second to Sole with a jump of 1.91m. Johnson, a senior, posted of third place mark of 1.86m.
Although all of the shot and high jump performances scored valuable points, none was at a higher level than that of Jotanovic, who was named the MAAC Most Outstanding Field Performer. The junior shot putter nailed down his third consecutive MAAC Indoor title by smashing his own meet record and surpassing the NCAA A qualifying standard for March's national championships. With a winning throw of 19.40m, Jotanovic broke the meet record of 19.28m, which he set at last year's meet.
When Jotanovic defends his title at the IC4A Championships, Reuter will be joining him at the meet thanks to a new personal record of 15.91m as the
“Rich is a prime example of how the athletes on our team stepped up to help us win the meet. The list goes on and on, whether you want to look at Milos [Vuckovic] in 800 or Kosta [Randjic] in the jumps,” commented
Earlier in the evening, Reuter and Peulich, who took fourth in the shot at 14.69m, were part of a 1-2-3-4
Competing at his first MAAC Indoor Championships, Vuckovic starred for
The Jaspers also picked up points in the 3000m run with freshman Tobias Lundgren claiming second place (8:40.95) and junior Tom Murphy taking sixth (8:50.70).
Senior Joe Cruz was the runner-up in the 55m hurdles, taking second to Rider's Randy Nixon with a time of 7.68s.
Also scoring for