Muniz, Eckert, Brissing, Modaferri, and Gibson Qualify and Compete at Prestigious NYU Invitational

Shortly after competing at Cornell, five STAC athletes qualified for the prestigious NYU Fast Track Invitational on the 27th of February, which only allows some of the fastest athletes in the nation in track & field.  Chris Muniz qualified in the 400 meter dash; Einar Brissing and Elmer Eckert qualified in the mile; Vinny Modaferri qualified in the 800 meter dash; Jeanette Gibson qualified in the shot put; and Sarah Callagy qualified in the mile.  Unfortunately, out of this select group, only four were able to compete as Callagy had to scratch out due to serious illness.

Muniz set the bar to an almost unreachable height on Friday as he raced his best race of the season.  He covered the first 200 meters of the 400 meter race in a blistering pace of 22.5, nearly tying his own personal record in the sole 200 meter race!  He ran a personal best, season best, and new school record (he owned the previous school record) and ran an IC4A qualifying time of 48.91.

Einar Brissing also ran a phenomenal race in the mile run.  Like his teammate Muniz, Brissing set a blistering pace for his heat and led through the first lap in 62 seconds.  Eckert closely followed in the chase group.  Brissing, however, didn't relinquish the lead at all.  He came through the 800 meters in 2:09 with the chase a few seconds behind.  Brissing closed the deal winning his heat by roughly 25 meters and a personal best time of 4:22.22, which was seconds off IC4A qualifying.  Eckert closely followed with a time of 4:37.21.  All in all, Brissing came in 13th out of 45 and Eckert in 40th.

Vinny Modaferri tied his personal best in the 800.  Modaferri went out fast and failed to maintain his own pace, but still managed to finish strong.  He found himself in the back of the pack with only 150 meters to go, so he turned on the jets and, coming from nearly last, came in third in his heat.  His time of 1:57.37 placed him in 22nd of 58 runners.

Lone thrower Jeanette Gibson cut right to the chase by throwing her best throw of the day in her first attempt.  She threw 11.63 meters (38 feet and 2 inches).  This throw placed her in 8th overall out of 17 athletes, which is quite an accomplishment at such a high caliber meet.

Chris Muniz will be competing in the 400 meter dash at the IC4A Championship meet in Boston this coming weekend.