Men Take Second, Women Tie For Third at MAAC Indoor Championships

RIVERDALE, NY – For the second time in as many years, Manhattan College's Blerim Pocesta (Staten Island, NY) and Marisa Robbins (Goshen, NY) were named the Most Outstanding Performers for Field Events at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships.  Pocesta won the weight throw and finished third in the shot put, as the men's squad finished second as a team.  Robbins, meanwhile, set a championship record in the pole vault to lead the women's team to a share of third place.

Pocesta got the Jaspers off to a good start in the weight throw, securing 10 team points with a winning effort of 20.83 meters (68 feet, 4¼ inches).  He then took third place in the shot put with a mark of 15.82 m (51'11).

The Jasper men also performed well in the jumps.  Bobby Gebhard (Saddle River, NJ) and Hayden Clarke (Townsville, Australia) went 1-2 in the triple jump.  Gebhard claimed the win with a distance of 15.13 m (49'7¾), while Clarke's silver medal-winning leap was 14.62 m (47'11¾).  In the long jump, it was Clarke that earned the victory with a 7.33 m (24'0¾) effort.  Gebhard got out to 7.20 m (23'7½), which was good for third place.  Meanwhile, in the pole vault, Manhattan had four scorers, led by Chris Sandoli (Old Bridge, NJ) in second place and Stefan Hoeller (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) in third.  They both cleared 4.50 m (14'9).

On the track, Manhattan's top showings were a third-place effort by Tom Bonaro (Pearl River, NY) in the 800 meters (1:54.67) and fourth-place finishes by Justin Alleyne (New Rochelle, NY) in the 400 meters (49.62), John Dove (Monroe, NY) in the mile (4:13.32), Anthony Hall (Mountainville, NY) in the 60 meters (7.00) and Amir Khaghani (Bethesda, MD) in the 5000 meters (14:48.36).  The Jaspers also took second in the 4x400 meter relay.

With 126 points, the Jaspers finished second in the team standings for the third consecutive year.  Monmouth captured the MAAC title with 170 points.

Manhattan's women collected 100 team points, which was enough to tie Rider for third place.  Monmouth won its third straight conference championship with 205 points, while second-place Quinnipiac finished with a team score of 133 points.

Leading the way for the women's squad was Robbins, who broke the championship record in the pole vault.  Her clearance of 3.82 m (12'6¼) was two centimeters higher than Monmouth's Lauren McDonald's mark from 2014. 

Ellinor Persson (Taby, Sweden) scored points in three different events.  She won the long jump with a leap of 5.68 m (18'7¾), took second in the triple jump (11.25 m, 36'11), and placed eighth in the 60 meter hurdles (9.20).  Charlene Pohl (Bisingen, Germany) finished just behind Persson in the long jump.  She got out to 5.63 m (18'5¾).  Pohl also placed fifth in the high jump (1.60 m, 5'3).

Paige Chapman (Abingdon, MD) paced the Jaspers' efforts on the track with a second-place showing in the 60.  She posted a time of 7.69 seconds.  Chapman later finished sixth in the 200 (25.58) and ran the third leg on Manhattan's 4x400 relay squad that captured the silver medal.  Jasmine Davis (Ronkonkoma, NY), the 4x400 anchor, was fourth in the 400 (56.93) and eighth in the 200 (25.65).

Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, NY), meanwhile, grabbed third place in the 3000 meters with a 9:57.55 clocking.  Kelly Gorman (South Amboy, NJ) and Alexa Roda (Staten Island, NY), meanwhile, went 4-5 in the 800.  Gorman's time was 2:14.30, while Roda crossed the line in 2:15.27.  Lorraine Brancale (Staten Island, NY) added three team points with a sixth-place showing in the 5000 (18:02.81), and Manhattan was third in the distance medley relay.