Last Friday, the men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Staten Island, N.Y. to compete in the Metropolitan Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. The women placed seventh overall and the men 12th.
Senior Gbarper Dwah completed the 60m dash with a time of 7.70 seconds, placing first amongst a group of NCAA D1 competitors. She then took 11th place in the 200m dash at 26.06 seconds. Sophomore Dale Leonard, senior Zoey Cassavell and freshman Gianna Penyak raced in the 3000m run, grabbing second, fifth and eighth place, respectively — Leonard at 10:07.80, Cassavell at 10:36.60 and Penyak at 11:13.30.
Sophomore ReaAnthonytte Pagatpatan placed 12th in the mile run with a time of 5:44.67. The 4x200m relay team — made up of Dwah, freshman Isabel Crespo and sophomores Jianna Gorospe and Ashley Gordon — finished with a time of 1:46.50 for fifth place overall. Freshman Bryanna Shepperson cleared 1.40m in the high jump for 11th place.
Junior Ryan Pena led the men with a sixth place finish in the mile with a time of 4:23.12 and a 12th place finish in the 800m run at 2:00.55. In the 3k event, sophomore Julian Mignone ran a time of 9:16.19 for 10th overall.
The 4x200m relay team — consisting of freshman Mark Shinkorenko, sophomore Logan Natale, junior Anthony Gentile and senior Terrell Lockett — set a new school record with a time of 1:29.41 for third place.
“I was very happy about it,” Gentile said of the new record. “That was the goal when we went into the meet and now we are just going to get better from here.”
“It was a long time coming,” Lockett added. “It was a goal that we set to achieve from last year so to get it done is a great feeling. It was a great start and we’re looking forward to improving.” Shinkorenko had a similar outlook, saying, “It felt nice to beat the record but it is still early in the season and we can continue to improve on the time.”
Natale reflected on the achievement saying, “It felt great being able to work to achieve a goal that was in our sights last year,” a common theme amongst the four. “It makes me hopeful and appreciative how much we’ve been able to improve in our ability since last year! I look forward to everyone’s growth and how much more we can achieve!”
Freshman Lindell Mejia, sophomore Anthony Sileo and juniors Matthew Suero and Colin Unis clocked in at 3:33.90 in the 4x400m relay for a sixth place finish. Unis also ran in the 500m dash, placing 13th with a time of 1:05.53.
Sebastian Pross and Braden Holm competed in the weight throw, grabbing sixth place with a mark of 15.61m and eighth place with a mark of 15.15m, respectively. Holm went on to place ninth in the shot put with a mark of 13.02m.
Junior Nicolo Caminiti and Sileo both cleared 1.74m in the high jump, earning 12th and 13th respectively.
Both teams will head back to the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Saturday, Feb. 8 to compete in the Big Apple Invitational at 3:00 p.m.
ajones11@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
