Jaspers Fourth After Day One Of MAAC Champs

New York, NY - Both Manhattan's men's and women's track and field teams sit in fourth place after day one of competition at the 2020 MAAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The second and final day will kick-off at 4:00 pm on Sunday at The Armory. 

Medalists
The Jaspers earned four medals on day one, including three for individual performances. Nicholas Kocienda (Seaford, NY / Seaford) won a silver medal in the men's weight throw with a distance of 18.15 meters, one of only two competitors to throw over 18 meters on the day. In the women's weight throw, Nina Bjorkman (Vasteras, Sweden / Widenska Idrottsgymnasium) also earned silver, setting a PR of 17.53 meters. Elijah Sleasman (Loudonville, NY / Shaker) won bronze in the men's pole vault, reaching a height of 3.90 meters in his first MAAC Championships. 

The men's DMR squad, made up of Ryan Lindrud (Basking Ridge, NJ / Ridge), Jordan Greene (Boston, MA / Newton North), Marc Carrera (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) and Ryan Tierney (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) placed second in the event, earning a silver medal with a time of 10:08.56.

Sprints
Niasia Boone (Morrisville, PA / Pennsbury) qualified for the women's 60-meter finals with a season-best time of 7.89 in the event. Later, she also earned a spot in the 200-meter finals with a preliminary-best time of 25.11. 

Larry McCullum (Piscataway, NJ / Piscataway) PR-ed in the men's 200-meters with a time of 22.01, earning a spot in tomorrow's finals. He also qualified for the 60-meter finals with a season-best time of 7.03. 

Two Jaspers qualified for the men's 400-meter finals. Quemarii Williams (Danville, IL / Danville) came in second in the prelims with a time of 49.66, while Alexander (A.J.) Moore finished in 49.94, good for seventh place. On the women's side, Zarah Harris (Montgomery, NY / Valley Central) earned a season-best qualifying time of 58.39 for a spot in the women's 400-meters finals. 

Distance
Nicola Scaglione (Oceanside, NY / Oceanside) finished the mile prelims in 5:09.17 to earn a spot in that event finals at her first MAAC Indoor Championships. Adam Alshoubeki (Monroe, NY / Monroe-Woodbury) is into the 800-meter finals after earning a preliminary time of 1:58.28.


Team Scoring
At the conclusion of day one the Monmouth men and Rider women find themselves atop the standings with 91 and 47 points, respectively. The Manhattan men garnered 26 points on the day, while the women earned 22 as a team.