FOUR MORE SCHOOL RECORDS FALL AT MAC OPEN

Freshmen sprint stalwarts Chris Muniz and Ashley Toscano each added a pair of school records to their growing collection while shot-put ace Jeanette Gibson won her specialty at the MAC Open, held Sunday, January 21 at the Jersey City Armory.

Muniz (Suffern H.S./Suffern, N.Y.) started his day by placing fifth overall in the 300-meter dash in a school-record 36.5 seconds. As an encore, he returned later to finish third in the 600-meter run in 1:26.6, shattering the previous STAC standard of 1:28.45 set by Matt Winkeleer in 2003. Muniz now owns school records outright in four events (300, 400, 500 and 600 meters) and shares another (200).

Toscano (Clarkstown South H.S./West Nyack, N.Y.) established Spartan benchmarks in the same two events. She placed fourth in the 300 meters in 44.5, then took second in the 600 in 1:55.4. Fellow freshmen Gibson (North Rockland H.S./Pearl River, N.Y.) notched her first victory of the season, unleashing a best throw of 36 feet, 5 ½ inches to triumph by more than a foot and miss her school record by less than three inches.

In other events for STAC, freshman Mike Valentine (Walter Panas H.S./Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) finished fourth in the 600-meter run in 1:28.3, in his first attempt ever at the distance; freshman Aidan Hearn (St. Peter’s Boys’ School/Staten Island, N.Y.) took second in the 1,000 meters (2:59.9) and fifth in the mile (5:01.4); and sophomore Andrew Gangemi (St. Peter’s Boys’ School/Staten Island, N.Y.) came in sixth in the mile in 5:07.0.

St. Thomas next takes to the track oval on Saturday, January 27 at the West Point Open.