Rider Athletes of the Month

LAWRENCEVILLE--Senior Chris Gonzalez and sophomore Mia Riley of the indoor track & field teams have been named the Rider University Athletes of the Month for all competition in February.

Gonzalez (Somerset, N.J. /Franklin Twp.) set a pair of Rider records and was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.

"Chris had an outstanding month of February that culminated with his performance at the MAAC Championship," said Rider head coach Bob Hamer. "He has taken his performance to a new level this year and it is exciting every time he races."

Riley (West Caldwell, N.J. /James Caldwell) won the 55m dash while setting a new Rider record (7.20) at the MAAC championships, and also placed fourth in the conference shot put. "Mia has made such great strides this year," Hamer said. "She has always shown the potential, it was just a matter of time for her to keep working hard and learning from every race.  She had a great MAAC Championship and hopefully this will give her even more confidence to achieve at an even higher level."

Earlier in February Riley won the 60m dash at the Lafayette/Rider Winter Games.

Gonzalez won the 800m (1:52.00) and the mile (4:05.33) in IC4A qualifying times at the MAAC Championships, leading Rider to a close second place finish to perennial champion Manhattan.  He also won the 1,000m in a dual meet with TCNJ in February and was on the winning 4x800m relay.

-ru-