FIVE SCHOOL RECORDS FALL AT EAST STROUDSBURG MEET
For the third weekend in a row, freshmen Chris Muniz and Ashley Toscano broke two school records apiece, while a STAC sprint relay also rewrote the record book to highlight the Spartans’ showing at the Dick DeSchriver Invitational. The meet was held Saturday, February 3 at East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University.
Muniz (Suffern H.S./Suffern, N.Y.) bolted to a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 23.08 seconds, erasing his previous mark of 23.36 set a week earlier at West Point. He also sped the 55-meter dash in 6.97 seconds to wipe out the former school standard of 7.15 set in 2003 by Greg Malivers.
Toscano (Clarkstown South H.S./West Nyack, N.Y.) had a busy day at East Stroudsburg’s Koehler Field House. School record No. 1 came in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.94 seconds. Next up was the 400 meters, in which she placed seventh in 63.08. She later duplicated that seventh-place performance in the 200, covering one lap of the 200-meter oval in 27.43 seconds to shave five-tenths of a second off the mark she established the previous week at West Point.
The Spartan men got off to a flying start by finishing 10th in the 4x200-meter relay in 1:37.71, breaking the record of 1:39.09 set at this meet last year. The quartet consisted of freshman Mike Valentine (23.8), sophomore Andrew Gangemi (25.7), sophomore Anderson Munro (26.0) and Muniz, who anchored the unit with a sizzling 22.1-second split for his 200 leg.
Other results for St. Thomas included a 12th-place effort by Valentine (Walter Panas H.S./Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) in the 200 (23.62); 16th place by freshman Jeanette Gibson (North Rockland H.S./Pearl River, N.Y.) in the women’s shot put (35 feet, 10 ¾ inches); 23rd place by Aidan Hearn (St. Peter’s Boys’ School/Staten Island, N.Y.) in the 5,000-meter run in 17:15.34; a 4:50.78 clocking by Gangemi (St. Peter’s Boys’ School/Staten Island, N.Y.) in the mile; a time of 7.01 by Valentine in the 55 dash; and a 1:19.38 by Munro (St. John the Baptist H.S./Wyandanch, N.Y.) in the 500 meters.
Upcoming this
week for the Spartans are a pair of meets: NYRRC Thursday Night at
the Races No. 3 at the NYC Armory on Thursday, Feb. 8, and the ECC
championships at Yale University on Sunday, Feb. 11.