Manhattan Men Win Metropolitan Outdoor Championship

PISCATAWAY, NJ – Competing in miserable conditions at Rutgers University's Bauer Track & Field Complex, the Manhattan College men's track & field squad used a complete group effort to win the team title at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships on Saturday.  The Jaspers scored points in every event they entered to claim its first Metropolitan championship since 2012.  The Manhattan women, meanwhile, finished third in the team standings.

Bobby Gebhard (Saddle River, NJ) earned a pair of first-place finishes.  He won the long jump with a leap of 6.70 meters (21 feet, 11¾ inches) and had a winning effort of 14.58 m (47'10) in the triple jump.  Dennis Eriksson (Sundsvall, Sweden) was second in the long jump (6.58 m, 21'7¼) and third in the triple jump (13.14 m, 43'1½).  He later picked up a bronze medal in the 400 meter hurdles (57.43) and added a sixth-place showing in the 110 meter hurdles (16.53).  Hayden Clarke (Townsville, Australia), meanwhile, finished third in the long jump (6.57 m, 21'6¾) and fifth in the triple jump (12.10 m, 39'8½).

Manhattan went 1-2-3-4 in both the shot put and discus.  Blerim Pocesta (Staten Island, NY), who placed second in the hammer throw on Friday, won the shot put with a mark of 14.46 m (47'5¼).  He added his second silver medal of the meet in the discus, getting out to a distance of 47.83 m (156'11).  Ire Bozovicar (Potoki, Slovenia) was the winner of the discus competition.  His best effort of 50.01 m (164'1) was good enough to qualify for the IC4A Championships.  Bozovicar was also third in the shot put (13.60 m, 44'7½).

Sitting in third place after day one of the decathlon, Stefan Hoeller (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) finished first in four of the five events on Saturday to win the Metropolitan title.  He ended up with a score of 6284 points, which should be enough for a place in the IC4A Championships.

Amir Khaghani (Bethesda, MD) led the Jaspers on the track.  He took the gold in the 5000 meters, posting a time of 14:54.59.  Tom Bonaro (Pearl River, NY) secured third place in the 800 meters (1:57.11), while Fabian Mueller (Amtzell, Germany) placed fourth in the 100 meters (11.45) and Anthony Hall (Mountainville, NY) was fourth in the 200 meters (23.30).  Mueller and Hall both ran on Manhattan's 4x100 meter relay squad that placed second in 42.90 seconds.  The Jaspers were also second in the 4x800 meter relay (8:12.93), while the 4x400 meter relay team of Justin Alleyne (New Rochelle, NY), Nesta Littlejohn (Albany, NY), Joe Martello (Amawalk, NY) and Akash Patel (Orlando, FL) took first in 3:30.02.

As a team, Manhattan collected 254 points, 68 clear of second-place Rutgers.  The Jasper women placed third in the team standings, their highest finish since taking fourth in 2012.  Manhattan's women earned 88 points.

Charlene Pohl (Bisingen, Germany) entered the day one point out of the lead in the heptathlon.  She moved into first place in the long jump and extended her advantage in the javelin before securing the victory with a win in the 800 meters.  Pohl finished with 4525 points to become the first Jasper to win the heptathlon at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships since Andrea Nyback in 2012.

Ellinor Persson (Taby, Sweden) contributed points in three different events.  She took third in the triple jump (10.80 m, 35'5¼), placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles (15.62) and was fifth in the long jump (5.49 m, 18'0¼).

Also earning bronze medals for the women's team were Kathy Cadet (Endicott, NY) in the 400 hurdles (1:05.32), Erin Spadaccini (Wilmington, DE) in the 800 (2:16.60) and Keeley Hogan (Delmar, NY) in the 5000 (17:58.45).  In addition, Paige Chapman (Abingdon, MD) took fourth in the 100 (12.80) and the 4x800 relay squad of Victoria Cruz (West Nyack, NY), Erin Von Dollen (Blauvelt, NY), Jacquie Roda (Staten Island, NY) and Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, NY) captured fourth place in a time of 10:12.04.