RANDALLS ISLAND, NY– The Saint Peter's track and field programs competed in the 226th Outdoor Metropolitan Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in New York on Friday. The Peacocks combined for six podium finishes, with
Cashieve Blair and
Connor Ziolkowski leading the team with gold medals.
The women's team finished sixth out of 13 teams with a total of 40 points. St. John's claimed the title for the second consecutive year with 261 points, followed by FDU (96) and Manhattan (94).
The men placed fifth overall with 61 points. FDU won the title with 179 points, followed by Manhattan (92.5) and Ramapo (80).
MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
The men's 4x100m relay was a close contest, with the top five teams finishing under 43 seconds. SPU A (
Ameen Zubair, Niles Thony, Desrick Hemans, and
Neo Clark-Tabb) claimed fourth in 42.91. Iona took first in 42.03, followed by FDU (42.18) and Ramapo (42.67).
Clark-Tabb finished fifth in the 100m with a time of 10.88 in his event debut, a team season-best mark. FDU's Xavier Hayletts claimed first in 10.61, followed by Ramapo's Samuel Thomas (10.64) and Wander Dilone (10.78).
Cashieve Blair blazed to first place in the 400m, earning the first individual gold of the day in 47.00, finishing more than a second ahead of the field.
Favour Owolabi narrowly missed the podium in his Outdoor Mets debut, finishing fourth in 48.96, while
Ajani Peck-Wekunda followed in 49.95.
Desrick Hemans finished eighth overall in 50.39.
Connor Ziolkowski improved upon last year's Outdoor Metropolitan Championships performance, claiming first place this time and edging FDU's Bikramjit Singh by three hundredths of a second with a time of 55.73.
Adeiza Albert also earned a top-ten finish, placing sixth in 58.64.
The 4x800m relay squad of
Michael Amaker, Ziolkowski,
Gerardo Quaglia, and
Johan Aparicio finished third with a time of 8:35.15. FDU claimed first in 7:55.50, with Ramapo finishing second in 8:08.70.
The 4x400m quartet of Owolabi,
Brian Yeager, Peck-Wekunda, and Blair sprinted to gold, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of the field with a time of 3:13.47.
Owolabi opened the relay with the fastest split of the race (45.40), handing the baton to Yeager in first. Yeager maintained the Peacock lead with a 52.75 split. Peck-Wekunda ran the third leg in 48.55, giving Blair nearly two seconds of cushion. Blair closed the race with a 46.78 split to secure the victory.
WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
The 4x100m quartet of
Karilynn Jimenez, Dezoara Diaz, Mercedes Cruz-Fletcher, and
Shanelle Vilson raced to a fourth-place finish with a time of 49.61. Manhattan claimed first in 47.75, followed by FDU (48.13) and St. John's (48.97).
Jimenez secured the lone track medal for the women's team, sprinting to a bronze finish in the 100m with a time of 12.21. She followed with a fourth-place finish in the 200m with a time of 25.44.
Lourdes Lawson earned the only field medal for the Peacocks, claiming silver in the shot put with a throw of 11.90m (39' 1.25"). St. John's Jamor Alves took first with a distance of 14.81m (48'7"), while Juliet Smith finished third with 11.72m.
Alyana Meador placed fifth with 11.44m, and
Ciara Brown rounded out the event for the Peacocks in seventh (11.23m).
Chloe Montgomery secured fifth place in the long jump with a mark of 4.98m. St. John's Cassandra Lemus-Sodji finished first with 5.88m, followed by Manhattan's Isabella Sing (5.83m) and FDU's Jade Cruz (5.19m).
UP NEXT
The Peacocks gear up for the Rutgers Relays at the Bauer Track and Field Complex in Piscataway, NJ, on Saturday, April 11.
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