Spartans Improve at DeShriver Invitational; Muniz Wins at New Balance
The Spartan Track & Field team spent this past weekend at East Stroudsburg University, for the DeShriver Invitational, in which they put forth another impressive performance. While the majority of the Spartans were duking it out at ESU, junior sprinter Chris Muniz stayed in New York to compete in the prestigious New Balance games at the Armory in Manhattan. Muniz showed heart and guts in two extremely tough races: the 200 meter dash and the 400 meter dash. Racing against top-notch competition, Muniz was able to break his own STAC school record in the 200m with a phenomenal time of 22.61 seconds placing him 2nd in his heat. Then, in the 400m, while he says it "wasn't his best race," he finished in 49.9 seconds, which won his heat.
For the STAC women, junior Ashley Toscano doubled in two solid races despite coming off of serious injury in the fall. First, in the 200m dash, she clocked a time of 28.77, which put her in 19th out of 31. Then, with little time to prepare, Toscano came back to run the 400m dash and finished in 69.06 seconds placing her 23rd out of 29.
Freshman Sarah Callagy, seeded in a fast heat of the mile, showed a great deal of guts as she clocked a solid time of 5:52.53 placing her 14th in field of 30.
Freshman mid-distance runner and jumper Chelsea Klinger also doubled at this meet in the Long Jump and 800m dash. She first competed in the Long Jump for the first time in her collegiate career in which she jumped a solid distance of 4.35 meters (14 ft. 3 in.) putting her in 24th of 32. Then she came back to race the 800m dash in which she ran 2:42.52, placing her 17th out of a field of 28.
In the 1000 meter run, freshman Lisa Brevogel and Junior Amanda Szorentini took the line. Szorentini finished at 3:45.96 with Brevogel right behind her finishing in 3:54.94.
Junior thrower, Jeanette Gibson, performed extremely well. After fouling the first of three attempts, Gibson ended up throwing a distance of 10.81 meters or 35.53 feet, which placed her in a spectacular 14th out of 40 throwers.
There was a smaller crowd for the STAC men at DeShriver, but even with low numbers the men persevered and had good races. Senior sprinter and jumper Anderson Munro had two noteworthy performances in both the 200 meter dash and the Long Jump. The Long Jump, like Klinger, was his first of his track & field career! He jumped a staggering 5.38 meters (17 feet and .08 inches). In the 200 meter dash, Munro ran a 25.30 placing him 29th out of 37 sprinters.
The men's 3000 meters was also a noteworthy race for seniors Elmer Eckert and Drew Gangemi who are gradually getting back into shape after a month and a half bout with injury. Eckert clocked a time of 9:35.84 with Gangemi following closely with a time of 9:42.68.
Finally, sophomore Dan Nilsen closed out the Spartan's performances with another race showing steady progression. Nilsen raced the 800 meter dash in a time of 2:22.45. Nilsen continues to play a large role on this team with his efforts.
The Spartans head to Ithaca, New York for the Kane Invitational at Cornell University on Valentine's Day.
