Spartan Striders Participate In The Lafayette Invitational
LAFAYETTE INVITATIONAL - 2/15/08
The Spartan Striders of Saint Thomas Aquinas traveled down to the famed & fast 168th Street Armory to run in the Lafayette Invitational on February 15th. Inspite of being decimated by sickness, the team showed their prowess once again in a number of events running against the likes of Rutgers, Penn, Southern CT, Lehigh, New Haven, East Stroudsburg and a slew of other DI and DII powerhouses.
In the 4 X 800 Relay, the men's took home 4th place overall, running a new school record of 8:02.01 eclipsing the former record by about 23 seconds! Christian Mendez led off, josting with 12 other runners, and inspite of getting boxed in ran an opening lead-off leg of 2:04. Chris Muniz followed up in only his second 800 of the year by doing what he does best - passing runners, as he legged it home in 2:00 for the second leg. Vinny Modafferri took over for the third leg, as he started to close the gap and ran a sizzling 1:58. Vinny handed off to Kwame Opoku who outrun 7 other teams to bring the Striders home in 8:02.01! In placing fourth overall the new Spartan record-holders beat the likes of: Delaware, John Hopkins, Moravian, Hartford, Rutgers, Muhlenburg, and New Haven.
On the field side of the invitational Jeanette Gibson after waiting for over 4 hours, threw the shot put 10.38. Good enough for 2nd place in her flight and earning her a trip to the prestigious ECAC Women's Indoor Championship up at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Boston, MA on March 8th & 9th.
On the men's side Chris Muniz, Vinny Modafferi, Kwame Opoku will team up with two other team members yet to be announced to compete in the famed IC4A's hosted by Boston University, also on March 8th & 9th.
Until then three more meets are still left to finish off the indoor season; the NYRR Distance Classic on February 28, the NYU Fast Track Invitational on February 29 and The Front Runners Meet on March 7th.
OVERALL RESULTS
800 METER RUN
DAVIDE - 2:04.64 (4th place in heat)
ELMER - 2:08.68
200 METER DASH
KEITH - 23.74
MIKE - 23.93
ANDERSON - 25.48
SADE - 33.84
4 X 800 METER RELAY - 8:02.01 (4th place overall)
CHRISTIAN - 2:04
CHRIS - 2:00
VINNY - 1:58
KWAME - 1:58
4 X 400 METER RELAY - 3:30.64 (2nd in Heat)
VINNY - 52
MIKE - 53
KEITH - 52.
CHRIS - 51
WOMENS SHOT PUT
JEANETTE - 10.38 ( 2nd in Flight)
