Day 1 of E8 Men's Track and Field Championship
Results
PITTSFORD, N.Y.-- The Empire 8 men's track and field teams were in action today at St. John Fisher College for the first day of the Empire 8 Outdoor Championships. Despite strong winds with gusts above sixty miles per hour there were still plenty of highlights on day one.
In the men's meet, Stevens leads with 66 points, followed by Utica (54), St. John Fisher (49), Alfred (31), Houghton (16) and Nazareth (1).
Fisher senior Mac Milligan started the day out strong for the Cardinals with a first place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a final time stamp of 9:49.75. Alfred Kyle Gallo was the next top finisher with his 10:08.37, second place mark.
Fisher's top hurdlers would go one and two in the preliminary round of the 110-meter hurdles. Eddie Mahana and Peter Girardi finished in first and second place with qualifying times of 14.82 and 15.00 seconds. Kyle Rollins also qualified in the fourth position after he clocked in at 15.39 seconds.
Alfred's 4x800-meter relay team of Rashid Abuelmaali, Matt Roder, Jordan Schools and Erik Diehl became the first Empire 8 Champions in the event as this is the first year that the conference has hosted the race. The race was electric as both Roder and Schools, as the second and third legs, outran and held off the other five relay teams for Diehl to have a big finish on the final 100 meters. They combined for a time of 8:04.51, topping Stevens Institute of Technology's team and their 8:06.38.
The 10,000m was also the highlight for the Houghton men, as Tyler Deuschle made a decisive move with about two miles to go and powered on to win in a time of 34:06.19.
As for the field events, Mark VanMarter highlighted the long jump once again for Fisher. The senior leaped into first place with a best mark of 7.46 meters. Utica's Ka'Sean Watlington posted a school-record long jump of 6.99 meters to take home second place.
The hammer throw would add another first place finish for the Cardinals after
Ross Mathewson tossed a 55.45 meter throw for the win. Mathewson's toss broke the school record for the fifth week in a row and lands him at 19th in the nation in the event.
Utica's Sam Bonk placed second in the men's hammer throw with a season-best toss of 50.47 meters. Alfred senior Jeffery Nunez broke the 1998 Alfred University school record with a mark of 49.94m, despite having to borrow a throwing glove from Houghton College's Zachary Fisher.
Utica's Patrick Fitzgerald placed second in the men's pole vault with a clearance of 4.35 meters.
Competition resumes tomorrow at 11:00 AM.