College Outdoor Track & Field
19 Rider Broncs to Participate at IC4A/ECACs
Hosted by Princeton May 11-13
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Rider University men's and women's track and field teams will have 19 student-athletes competing this weekend at the 136th IC4A and 29th ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Princeton University at Weaver Stadium.
The competition will take place May 11-13.
"We are focused on competing our best in the championship portion of the season and this group is ready to do that," said head coach Bob Hamer. "We are hopeful that for some we may get a mark that could qualify for the NCAA East Regional and for the others, end the season on a great note."
For the Rider men, who finished runner-up as a team at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship this past weekend, sophomore Wilvenson Baptiste (Irvington) will compete in the 200 meter and the 4x4 relay, freshman Michael Breen (Hazlet/Raritan) is part of the 4x4 relay, sophomore Steven Brown (Penns Grove) will participate in the long jump and the triple jump and junior James Burroughs (West Orange) competes in the 110 hurdles, the 400 hurdles and runs on the 4x4 relay.
Baptiste qualified by winning MAAC gold in the 200 meter with a time of 22.15, Brown qualified with a 7.17m mark at MAACs in the long jump and a 14.34m triple jump mark at the TCNJ Invitational and Burroughs made the meet with a time of 14.63 in the 110 hurdles at the Larry Ellis Invitational and a time of 52.39 while winning MAAC gold in the 400 meter hurdles.
For the Rider women, who placed third as a team at MAACs, sophomore Treasure Burke (Pennsauken/Camden Catholic) will participate in the hammer throw, junior Mia Riley (West Caldwell/James Caldwell) runs the 100 meter, sophomore Lauryn Strebeck (Dayton/South Brunswick) is in the triple jump and junior Nicole Tassello (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) runs the 10,000 meter.
Burke qualified in the hammer with a throw of 51.90m as she was runner-up at MAACs. Riley qualified with a time of 12.03 in the 100 at the Larry Ellis Invitational, Strebeck was the MAAC champion in the triple jump (11.39m) and Tassello posted a qualifying mark of 37:11.06 at the Colonial Relays.
Also for the Bronc men, sophomore Joseph Carlin (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech.) runs the 4x4 relay, freshman Anthony Dentino (Sewell/Washington Township) and junior Sean Donohue (Cliffwood Beach/Matawan) run the 10,000, freshman Jonathan Galya (Freehold/Freehold Township) will participate in the high jump and junior David Hightower (Easton, Pa./Easton) runs the 110 hurdles and on the 4x4 relay.
Dentino ran 30:33.65 at the Colonial Relays and Donohue ran 30:32.28, also at the Colonial Relays. Galya won the high jump at the Lafayette Invitational (2.00m) and Hightower ran 14.64 in the 110 hurdles at the Colonial Relays.
Sophomore Matthew Millemann (Hillsborough) and senior Ron Moore (Nashville, Tenn./John Overton) will run the 4x4 relay, sophomore George Osti (Union) will throw the hammer, freshman George Solujich (East Windsor/Notre Dame) will throw the discus and the shot put, graduate student Michael Soroko (Kinnelon) will run the 3000 steeplechase and junior Greg Wesh (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) will run the 800 meter and on the 4x4 relay.
Osti threw 53.64m for a third place finish at MAACs to qualify this weekend, Solujich won the discus (47.68m) at Lafayette and was third at MAACs in the shot put (15.58m), Soroko won MAAC gold with a time of 9:09.36 in the steeplechase and Wesh qualified with a time of 1:51.43 in the 800 meter, placing fourth at MAACs.
Soroko, Tassello, Dentino and Donohue compete Friday evening with Strebeck and Galya competing Sunday. The balance of the Rider athletes will compete on Saturday.
Last year, a Rider record 26 athletes qualified for the competition with Soroko, Hightower and Burroughs earning All-East honors.
"We are very excited to compete at the ECAC/IC4A championships," said Hamer. "Last year we had several All-East performers in Hightower, Burroughs, and Soroko. During the indoor season Brown was also All-East along with Hightower. Each of them is hopeful to have an opportunity to earn another All-East honor."
Those three, Wesh, and then senior Christian Gonzalez all advanced to the 2011 NCAA East Regional in Bloomington, Indiana.
This year, the NCAA 1st/2nd round meet will take place in Jacksonville, Florida May 24-26.
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