Rojeras Wins Second Straight IC4A 1000-Meter Title

BOSTON, Mass. – Mikael Rojeras (Sala, Sweden) won his second consecutive IC4A Indoor Championship in the 1000 meters on Sunday, continuing the Manhattan College track & field team's streak of at least one IC4A champion every year since 1969.  Led by Rojeras, the Jaspers completed the three-day meet at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center with 30 points, which was good for 11^th place in the team standings.

Rojeras, the No. 2 qualifier in the event, was able to win a sprint over the final meters to capture the gold in 2:25.44.  The race was so close that Rojeras and sixth-place finisher Nicholas Palermo of Navy were separated by less than a second.

That performance capped a very successful 25 minutes for the Jaspers.  First, Sheldon Derenoncourt (Patchogue, N.Y.) ran a personal-best time of 1:03.34 to capture third place in the 500 meters.  The next event was the 800 meters, where Greg Perrier (Dix Hills, N.Y.), the top qualifier, posted a better time than he did on Saturday.  Perrier's 1:50.89 clocking was good for second place.

Hayden Clarke (Townsville, Australia) added two points to Manhattan's team total with a seventh-place showing in the long jump.  Clarke's best effort was a leap of 7.04 meters (23 feet, 1¼ inches).  Along with the 24 points earned on the track and the four by Mohamed Koita (Cergy, France) in the high jump on Saturday, the Jaspers finished with a total of 30 team points.  Cornell won the IC4A team title with 76 points.

In the women's ECAC Championships, which were being held concurrently, Bianca Marten (Waiblingen, Germany), who was 12^th in the triple jump on Saturday, finished sixth in the long jump (5.63 m, 18'5¾).  With that performance, she added three points to Manhattan's team total, giving the Jaspers 11 for the meet, which put them in a tie for 26^th place overall.  Connecticut captured the ECAC team championship with 75 points.