Jaspers Conclude Terrier Invitational With More Qualifying Marks

BOSTON – On Saturday, the Manhattan College men's indoor track & field team had a number of solid performances at the John Thomas Terrier Invitational from Boston University's Track & Tennis Center.  Blerim Pocesta (Staten Island, N.Y.) won the weight throw, while the Jaspers boasted several qualifying marks for the IC4A Championships.

Pocesta led a 1-3 Manhattan finish in the weight throw.  He got out to 19.09 meters (62 feet, 7¾ inches), while Love Litzell (Ostersund, Sweden) had a personal-best effort of 18.38 m (60'3¾).  Bobby Gebhard (Saddle River, N.J.) took third in the triple jump with an IC4A-qualifying leap of 14.67 m (48'1¾).  Clement Gicquel (Rennes, France) was second in the high jump (2.05 m, 6'8¾), and Savio Paul (Yonkers, N.Y.) placed fourth in the pole vault (4.80 m, 15'9).

It was an especially good day for Manhattan's sprint corps.  Will Stallings (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) and Abdias Myrtil (Wheatley Heights, N.Y.) both posted IC4A-qualifying times in the 200 meters.  Stallings registered a 21.87-second clocking, which was the top time in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) this season, while Myrtil finished in 22.22 seconds.  Sheldon Derenoncourt (Patchogue, N.Y.) took eighth in the 400 meters, recording a time of 47.95 seconds, while Greg Perrier (Dix Hills, N.Y.) grabbed seventh place in the 800 meters (1:51.42). 

Derenoncourt, Perrier and Stallings then joined with Justin Alleyne (New Rochelle, N.Y.) in the 4x400 meter relay, and the quartet's time of 3:15.75, the best in the conference this season, was good enough to qualify for the IC4A Championships.

“We're now up to 13 individual IC4A qualifiers and the 4x400 relay,” Head Coach Dan Mecca said.  “We had some strong efforts today.  This is a good way to end January and move into February and the championship meets.”