Men’s Team Finishes Second, Women Third at Metropolitan Championships

PISCATAWAY, NJ – The annual Metropolitan Outdoor Championships concluded on Saturday at Rutgers University's Bauer Track & Field Complex.  The Manhattan College men's track & field team secured three individual titles to go with the two it won on Friday en route to a second-place finish in the team standings.  The Jasper women, meanwhile, placed third as a team.

Ire Bozovicar (Potoki, Slovenia) won both the shot put and discus, achieving the IC4A qualifying standard in both events.  He got out to 15.85 meters (52 feet) in the shot put, while his winning effort in the discus was 52.19 m (171'3).  Bozovicar led four Manhattan scorers in each event, as Ryan Addlesberger (Cinnaminson, NJ) took second in the shot put (15.04 m, 49'4¼) and Gustave Menocal (Bronx, NY) placed third in the discus (48.75 m, 159'11).  Eric Waugh (Wheatley Heights, NY), meanwhile, finished fourth in the shot put (13.67 m, 44'10¼) and fifth in the discus (44.93 m, 147'5).

Fabian Mueller (Amtzell, Germany) and Anthony Hall (Mountainville, NY) went 1-3 in the 100 meters.  Mueller posted a time of 10.77 seconds, while Hall's time was 10.85 seconds.  The duo also combined with Carmine Rosato (Bayville, NJ) and Hayden Clarke (Townsville, Australia) to grab second place in the 4x100 meter relay (42.13).  In addition, Mueller took fifth in the 200 meters with a 22.62-second clocking and Clarke placed third in the long jump (7.45 m, 24'5½) to go along with an eighth-place showing in the triple jump (13.44 m, 44'1¼).

One day after winning the pole vault, Stefan Hoeller (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) contributed points in both hurdle events.  He finished second in the 400 meter hurdles (55.61) and fourth in the 110 meter hurdles (15.40).  Brenton Foster (Townsville, Australia), meanwhile, grabbed fifth place in the high jump (1.92 m, 6'3½).  John Dove (Monroe, NY) added sixth-place points in the 1500 meters (4:01.86), and Manhattan took fourth in both the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays.

Manhattan collected 199 points to place second in the team standings, matching its showing at the indoor Metropolitan Championships.  The Jaspers finished just 10 points behind Metropolitan team champion Rutgers.

On the women's side, the Jaspers also equaled their indoor performance by taking third place as a team.  Manhattan had a team score of 120 points to finish behind Rutgers and St. John's.

Three Manhattan women were crowned Metropolitan champions on Saturday.  Lina Bengtson (Malmo, Sweden) won the discus with a 45.38 m (148'11) effort, while Ellinor Persson (Taby, Sweden) earned the victory in the long jump with a leap of 5.82 m (19'1¼).  She also placed seventh in the 100 meter hurdles (14.93).

Kelly Gorman (South Amboy, NJ) led a 1-2-3 finish in the 1500.  She posted a time of 4:39.27, while Erin Spadaccini (Wilmington, DE) was second in 4:42.60 and Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, NY) took third in 4:45.90.  Alexa Roda (Staten Island, NY) grabbed fifth place in the 800 meters (2:16.34) and later joined with Gorman, Spadaccini and Kaitlyn Smith (Effort, PA) on the Jaspers' 4x800 relay squad that finished second in 9:22.33.

In the 100 meters, Paige Chapman (Abingdon, MD) registered a personal-best time of 12.14 seconds to secure third place.  She also placed sixth in the 200 (25.48) and was a part of the 4x100 relay squad that finished third in 47.38.  Kathy Cadet (Endicott, NY), who also ran on that 4x100 relay, as well as the 4x400 relay team that took fourth place, grabbed second in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:03.75.  In addition, Jasmine Davis (Ronkonkoma, NY) (59.09) and Mikeisha Kelly (Albany, NY) (59.72) went 6-8 in the 400 meters, and Caroline Ferri (Garden City, NY) finished seventh in the 5000 meters (18:16.54).