Rider Hosts MAAC Championships This Weekend
Rider University will once again be the site of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships, May 7-8.
The competition begins Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm with the hammer throw. The running events begin at 4:30 pm with the 4 x 800 relay. On Sunday competition begins at 11:00 am with the high jump. The running events begin at 12 noon with the 4 x 100 relay.
There is a $15 admission price on Sunday.
The Broncs will be led by seniors Christian Gonzalez and Michael Soroko, and sophomores David Hightower, Dave Brown, Daequan Kim and Jorge Merino.
Gonzalez (Somerset/Franklin Twp.), the Rider record holder in the mile, was an All-East performer last spring and the MAAC champion in the 1500m.
Hightower (Easton, Pa./Easton) is the reigning MAAC Champion in the 55m hurdles.
Brown (Ewing) was the MAAC indoor long jump champion this winter.
Soroko (Kinnelon) is the outdoor Rider record holder in the steeplechase and the IC4A Indoor Champion in the 3,000m.
Kim was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2009-10 MAAC Indoor Championships, winning the 55m dash (6.46) and the 200m (21.91) while leading the 4 x 400 relay to a first place (3:19.81) finish. Last spring he helped the Rider 4 x 100 relay win MAAC gold while placing second in both the 100m (10.92) and the 200m (22.01).
Merino (Old Bridge) placed third in the discus and fifth in both the shot put and the hammer last spring at MAACs.
The Rider women will be led by senior Chelsea Callan and sophomores Mia Riley and Erin McMullin.
This winter Riley (West Caldwell/James Caldwell) set a Rider record in the 55m (7.20) and is currently ranked second in the MAAC in the 100m and seventh in the MAAC in the 200m.
Callan (Hazlet/Raritan) is the Rider record holder in the steeplechase.
McMullin (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) recently helped Rider set both the distance medley relay record and the 4 x 200 relay record at the Penn Relays and placed fifth in the 200m at the MAAC Indoor Championships this winter. Last spring she placed third in the 200 and 400 at the MAAC Championships.
Rider men and women both finished runner-up the last two MAAC Outdoor Championships. Manhattan is the perennial champion. The Rider women won the MAAC in 2007 and 2004.
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