STAC RELAY SETS RECORD AT IC4A CHAMPIONSHIPS
In their first-ever appearance at the IC4A Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championships, the STAC team broke a two-year-old school record in the 4x400-meter relay, while a pair of Spartans performed well in individual events in the team’s debut at the ECAC Women’s Championships.
Both events were held Saturday, March 3 in Boston, Mass. – the men’s meet at the Boston University Indoor Track & Field Pavilion, the women’s meet at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center. The meets assembled the top Division I collegiate teams from the Eastern seaboard along with a handful of Division II teams.
The St. Thomas 4x400-meter relay team of freshmen Mike Valentine (Walter Panas H.S./Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) and Chris Muniz (Suffern H.S./Suffern, N.Y.) and sophomores Andrew Gangemi (St. Peter’s Boys’ School/Staten Island, N.Y.) and Anderson Munro (St. John the Baptist H.S./Wyandanch, N.Y.) combined to run 3 minutes 32.45 seconds and place third in their section and 19th overall. Their clocking erased the previous school record of 3:35.00 set by another STAC foursome in 2005.
The respective 400-meter split times for each leg were: Valentine, 51.2; Muniz, 49.2; Gangemi, 54.1; and Munro, 57.8.
In the ECAC meet, freshman Jeanette Gibson (North Rockland H.S./Pearl River, N.Y.) placed 23rd overall in the shot put with a best mark of 33 feet, 10 inches. Freshman teammate Ashley Toscano (Clarkstown South H.S./West Nyack, N.Y.) finished fifth in her heat of the 400-meter dash and 26th overall in a time of 63.17 seconds.
The IC4A/ECAC meets wrapped up a very successful indoor campaign for the Spartans. STAC returns to action March 24 in its spring track opener, the Dick Shea Invitational at West Point.