Manhattan University Athletics

Lawrenceville, N.J.  (May 6, 2007)? Milan Jotanovic made it three straight MAAC men's shot put titles by smashing the meet record and setting a new personal best on Sunday at the MAAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.  But Jotanovic's feat pales in comparison with what the Jaspers accomplished as a program on a sunny afternoon on the campus of host Rider University.

Manhattan Men's Track and Field cruised to its tenth consecutive MAAC Outdoor Team Championship, posting a team score of 232.  The runner-up Rider Broncs tallied 145 points during the two-day meet.  The Jaspers won their 11^th straight MAAC Indoor team title this past February.

Just as he did at the New Balance Armory in February, Jotanovic claimed the MAAC Most Outstanding Men's Field Performer award after breaking his own shot record.  The two-time NCAA Indoor All-American threw 19.60m to surpass the old meet record of 19.30m, which he set en route to winning the 2006 crown.  His previous career best came this past March at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships, where he placed fourth with a throw of 19.56m.

Jotanovic doubled his contribution to the team's point total by winning the men's discus as well.  The junior thrower led four Manhattan scorers in the event with a mark of 49.94m.  Zoran Loncar finished in third place with a mark of 47.58m followed by yesterday's hammer champion Seid Mujanovic (44.02m) in fifth and junior Rich Reuter (39.70m) in sixth.

The Jaspers totaled 28 points in the triple jump by virtue of a 1-2-3-4 finish.  Sophomore Dexter Jules broke former Jasper Joseph Sciuto's record with his winning leap of 14.81m.  Jules was one of three Jaspers to set a new meet record during the two-day competition. 

Sophomore Kosta Randjic helped Manhattan build a healthy lead in the team standings on Saturday by setting the new meet record in the men's javelin with a winning throw of 62.76m.  A day later, Randjic finished second behind Jules in the triple jump with a mark of 14.05m.  Seniors Nick Newman (13.99m) and Denis Street, Jr. (13.58m) were third are fourth, respectively.

Chris Sole, a junior, repeated as the outdoor high jump champion by clearing 2.05m.  Sole, who also won the 2007 MAAC Indoor title, went unthreatened en route to the crown.  Manhattan sophomore Nikolay Tkachenko was second with a mark of 1.89m. 

After being sidelined throughout indoor season, sophomore Kelton Cumberbatch completed his comeback with a conference title.  Cumberbatch avenged last year's second place finish in the 400m hurdles by capturing gold on Sunday with a time of 54.80s.  The local product of Yonkers, N.Y.'s closest competition was senior teammate Joe Cruz, who took second at 56.06s.  In 2006, Cumberbatch registered a time of 53.98s in a much more competitive field. 

After missing out on a title to Rider Randy Nixon's in his signature event at last year's meet, Cruz returned to MAAC prominence in the 110m hurdles.  Cruz, another local product who hails from New York City, clocked in at 15.38s, nearly a full second better than Cruz.

A day after winning the steeple chase, freshman Milos Vuckovic produced two top-three finishes in a 1500m-800m double.  Vuckovic, who was the MAAC Indoor 800m champion, finished second in the 800m run by clocking in at 1:54.13, only eight hundredths of a second behind Iona's Philip Burkhart.  In the 1500m run, Vuckovic claimed third place with a time of 3:55.85 behind Iona's Abraham Ng'etich (3:52.33) and Adam Hortian (3:53.12).

Senior sprinter Darnell Douglas, who won the MAAC Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet award after turning the tide of last year's meet with victories in the 200m and 400m dashes, could not duplicate that success in 2007.    Douglas, however, did manage to make his presence felt with a third place finish in the 400m and a fifth place showing in the 200m.

Freshman distance runner Tobias Lundgren earned bronze in the 5K by finishing the race in 14:48.66.