Locker & Monacelli Win State Titles
Results
Empire 8 track and field athletes completed the first day of the 2014 New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) Outdoor Championship hosted by St. John Fisher College.
Alfred University junior
Sean Locker and Ithaca's Jarrod Monacelli highlighted the day with a state championship Friday afternoon at St. John Fisher College. Locker won the javelin with a throw of 59.14 meters and Monacelli won the pole vault (4.25m).
Also on Friday, the Empire 8 had five runners advance to the finals in the 200-meter dash. St. John Fisher's Joseph DAgostino placed second in the preliminary heats (22.75), followed by Ithaca's Rashaad Barrett (23.09) and Kevin Davis (23.20). Alfred sophomore Gregory Matros placed seventh (23.44) and the last qualifier was Ithaca's Tyler Curtis (23.46).
Matos also qualified in the 400-meter dash with a fourth place finish (50.66). He will be joined by Ithaca's Matt Fernia (50.67) in the finals on Saturday.
Nazareth's Luis Rivera placed fourth in the hammer throw (49.65m) and Utica's William Bailey took eigth (45.12m).
In the long jump, Ithaca sophomore
De'Marquis Graves had a 6.69-meter jump to place sixth and senior
Brennan Edmonds followed in eighth with a leap of 6.57 meters.
Ithaca is advancing four to the finals in the 100 dash - juniors Tyler Curtis, Barrett, Davis and sophomore Aaron Matthias.
Utica's Shane Ruffing and junior Frank Volino Jr., locked in the top two spots in the 110 preliminary hurdles. Ruffing clocked a 15.48 while Volino trailed in second with a mark of 15.86. Fisher's
Chris Wehner also moved on to Saturday's finals in the 110 hurdles.
Ruffing placed second in the 400 hurdles prelim with a watch of 56.44, just .03 short of the number one seed. Fisher's Will Sterriker took fourth in the prelim.