Complete Results
NEW YORK - The Manhattan College indoor track & field team entered a handful of athletes in the USATF New York Open Championships at the New Balance Armory Track & Field Center on Saturday with one goal in mind-achieving qualifying marks for the ECAC Championships. Milena Stoicev (Nis, Serbia) did just that in the women's 800 meters, while Ieva Vitola (Jekabpils, Latvia) came up just short of the target in the women's 200 meters.
The meet represented the last chance for athletes to qualify for ECACs, which will be held next weekend in Boston. Thanks to an excellent rabbiting job by Janie Turek (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.), Stoicev crossed the line in 2:13.29, more than a second faster than the ECAC qualifier, to win the 800. In the 200, Vitola's winning time of 25.13 seconds. However, she needed to run 25.04 or faster in order to qualify and join teammate Ashley Bowman (Elmont, N.Y.) in the event next weekend.
On the men's side, Mikael Rojeras (Sala, Sweden) and Kevin D'Emic (Rockaway Point, N.Y.) captured second and third in the 800 meters. Rojeras posted a time of 1:51.00, while D'Emic finished in 1:53.66. In addition, Sheldon Derenoncourt (Patchogue, N.Y.) ran the 400 meters and claimed fourth place overall. However, his time of 50.03 seconds wasn't quick enough to qualify Derenoncourt for the IC4A Championships.
Those athletes that have qualified will be headed to the ECAC/IC4A Championships from March 1-3. The women's ECAC Championships will be held at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center, with the men's IC4A Championships taking place across town at the Reggie Lewis Center. Competition gets underway with Felix Siljeback-Larsen (Vasteras, Sweden) in the men's heptathlon at 4 p.m. on Friday.
