Gibson Wins, Muniz Second at ECC Championships

GIBSON WINS, MUNIZ SECOND AT ECC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Jeanette Gibson cemented STAC’s first-ever conference track title and fellow freshman Chris Muniz sprinted to silver- and bronze-medal performances to highlight the Spartans’ showing in the East Coast Conference championships. The meet was held Sunday, February 11 at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Gibson (North Rockland H.S./Pearl River, N.Y.) captured the women’s shot put with a winning throw of 35 feet, 5 ¾ inches. That mark also earned her sixth place in the Collegiate Track Conference (CTC) meet, which was held concurrently.

Muniz (Suffern H.S./Suffern, N.Y.) raced to a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.93 seconds, which broke his own school record of 23.08 set the previous week. He also garnered third place in the 400-meter dash in 51.39 seconds. Within the CTC, he wound up fifth in the 400 and seventh in the 200.

Mike Valentine (Walter Panas H.S./Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) ran a pair of seasonal bests to provide St. Thomas with a strong one-two punch in the sprints. He came in third in the 200 in 23.56, and fourth in the 400 with a time of 51.74, almost a full second faster than his previous best this season.

Ashley Toscano (Clarkstown South H.S./West Nyack, N.Y.) capably represented STAC in the women’s sprints with two fourth-place finishes, in the 400 (63.71) and 200 (27.69).

The Spartans are idle this week before returning to competition Feb. 22 in the NYRRC Thursday Night Meet No. 4, and Feb. 23 at the NYU Fast Track meet, both at the NYC Armory.