Manhattan Men Finish Second, Women Take Third at MAAC Championships

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The Manhattan College men's and women's outdoor track & field teams both had a deficit to overcome after one day of competition at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships from the Rider University Track & Field Complex.  Unfortunately, the Jaspers were unable to overcome that margin on Sunday, as the Manhattan men finished second and the women's squad placed third.  Rider captured both the men's and women's team titles.

In the men's pole vault, Brian McGovern (Yonkers, N.Y.) cleared 5.20 meters (17 feet, ¾ inch) to break his own meet record.  Tom Bechert (Munich, Germany) was second with a leap of 4.65 m (15'3), while also tying for second place in the high jump.  Bechert and Mike Carroll (Nanuet, N.Y.) both leaped 1.99 m (6'6¼).  The Jaspers claimed 25 of a possible 31 points in the pole vault, with Felix Siljeback-Larsen (Vasteras, Sweden), Savio Paul (Yonkers, N.Y.) and Yardley Keshinover (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) all clearing 4.35 m (14'3¼) to take fourth, fifth and sixth in the event.

Ian McGinnis (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Rokas Kirlys (Kamaji, Lithuania) went 1-2 in the men's shot put.  McGinnis had a winning throw of 15.62 m (51'3), and Kirlys finished just behind with a best effort of 15.55 m (51'0¼).  Kirlys later took second in the discus with a toss of 49.17 m (161'4).  Blerim Pocesta (Staten Island, N.Y.), meanwhile, had a top throw of 47.00 m (154'2) to capture fourth place.

On the track, Greg Perrier (Dix Hills, N.Y.) led the way with a pair of first-place finishes.  He won the 800 meters for the second consecutive year, holding off Rider's Greg Wesh by .26 seconds in a very exciting race.  Perrier's winning time was 1:51.23.  He then anchored the Jaspers to victory in the 4 x 400 meter relay.  The quartet of Tyrek Barney (Hempstead, N.Y.), Joe Martello (Amawalk, N.Y.), Sheldon Derenoncourt (Patchogue, N.Y.) and Perrier finished in a time of 3:17.10, which qualified for the IC4A Championships.

Abdias Myrtil (Wheatley Heights, N.Y.) captured second place in three different events.  He posted a time of 11.02 seconds in the 100 meters and a 22.02-second clocking in the 200 meters.  Myrtil was also a member of Manhattan's 4 x 100 meter relay squad that finished in 42.23 seconds.  Barney, Derenoncourt and Ferguson Amo (Phiadelphia, Pa.) completed the quartet.  Individually, Derenoncourt took second in the 400 meters, finishing in 49.11 seconds, and fifth in the 200 (22.55).  Bechert, meanwhile, added a fourth-place showing in the 110 meter hurdles (15.16).

On the women's side, Alina Koenigs (Moenchengladbach, Germany) was named Most Outstanding Performer for Field Events.  After scoring points in the javelin and long jump on Saturday, she won the shot put with a toss of 13.01 m (42'8¼) on Sunday.  Andrea Nyback (Koping, Sweden), who also had a busy weekend, capped off her meet by taking second place in the high jump (1.61 m, 5'3¼).

In the women's pole vault, Manhattan finished first, second and fifth.  Melissa Yap's (Orchard Park, N.Y.) winning leap was 3.42 m (11'2½), while Sarah Moore (Irvington, N.Y.) cleared 3.12 m (10'2¾) and Breanna Brucher (Glen Spey, N.Y.) jumped 2.97 m (9'9).

Ashley Bowman (Elmont, N.Y.) secured a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 meters (12.25) and 200 meters (25.15).  Milena Stoicev (Nis, Serbia) finished fourth in both the 800 meters (2:16.39) and 1500 meters (4:36.50), while Doreen Horschig (Lumpzig, Germany) was fourth in the 100 meter hurdles (14.58).

Rider collected 242 points in the men's competition, while the Jaspers finished second with 185 team points.  In the women's meet, the Broncs finished with 252.5 points to edge second-place Saint Peter's.  The Peacocks tallied 226.5 points, followed by Manhattan with 117 points.