Team Ends Season at Kane Invitational
The Spartans' indoor track & field season came to a close at the Cornell's Ivy League Kane Invitational at Ithaca, New York this past Valentine's Day.
The core group of the Spartan women showed that STAC has steady versatility ranging from field events to the mile. Jeanette Gibson started the meet for the women by throwing a noteworthy throw of 11 meters (36 feet and 1 inch), which placed her in 8th place out of 29 competitors. Sprinter Ashley Toscano had a sub-par performance due to illness, but still managed compete in the 200 meter dash racing to a time of 29.49 and then came back to push through the 400 meter dash in 1:08.57. Distance freshman Sarah Callagy raced in the mile and clocked another impressive time of 5:50.33, which placed her 16th out of 31 athletes. The Spartans had two freshmen women, Chelsea Klinger and Lisa Brevgel, compete in the prestigious 800 meter run, finishing in times of 2:47.76 and 2:50.72 respectively. Junior Amanda Szorentini has been making great strides this season and raced again in the 1000 meter run. She clocked a time of 3:48.98.
The Spartan men continued to deliver blowout performances on the track all across the board. Their quick feet truly set the Ivy ablaze at Big Red's venue. Junior sprinter Chris Muniz stunned the crowd by tearing up the track in the 200 meter dash running a personal best and breaking his own STAC school record by running a 22.45. His performance in the 200 put him in 3rd place out of a field of 57 athletes. The mile had three Spartan harriers that hit noteworthy marks. Despite prior injury, seniors Elmer Eckert and Drew Gangemi powered through this eight lap race in times of 4:45.96 and 5:19.67. Youngster Matt Muniz clocked a time of 5:38.44.
The 1000 meter run was a terribly exciting race as three of STAC's top distance runners left everything on the track. Junior Vinny Modaferri ran a gutsy race as he led for the better half of the race, while Elmer Eckert and Einar Brissing sat back in the midst of the front pack, until teammate Brissing captured the lead with 300 to go. Brissing fell to second, while Modaferri got pushed to the middle of the pack. Brissing finished in 3rd with a time of 2:35.67 and Modaferri finished in 11th with a time of 2:41.73, leaving Elmer Eckert in 18th clocking 2:46.62. STAC finished the day with a 4x400 meter relay, which clocked a respectable time of 3:36.61 placing 9th overall out of an 18 team field.
