College Indoor Track & Field
Rider at Penn State Relays
Clark Rider Record in the Weight Throw
Women's 4x200 and SMR set Rider records
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.--The Rider University men's and women's indoor track and field teams competed at the Penn State Relays on Saturday and set three Rider records in Happy Valley. "We ran and threw as a much more complete team," said head coach Bob Hamer. "We had success all over the event, especially the sprint relays. They did a nice job."
For the Rider men, junior John Clark (Pennsville) won the weight throw with a Rider record and IC4A qualifying distance of 17.83m (58'6"), freshman Perry Asare (Lindenwold) was third in the long jump (6.60m) and freshman Daequan Kim (Bordentown) was third in the 60-meter dash (7.05).
Clark bested his own mark, set last year (58'1").
For the Rider women, freshman Erin Fitzgibbons (Sayreville) was third in the 3000m (11:34.32).
The women's 4x200 relay of junior Shaylah Counts (Newark/Malcolm Shabazz), freshman Erin McMullin (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy), freshman Jordyn Horning (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley) and freshman Mia Riley (West Caldwell/James Caldwell) set a Rider record with a time of 1:45.94, finishing third. The old mark was set in 2007 (1:47.44).
The women's 1600 sprint medley of freshman Ashley Hunter (Northampton, Pa.), junior Jillian Rubbico (Plains, Pa./Coughlin), Riley and junior Johanna Clarke (Laurelton, N.Y./Mary Louis Academy) also set a Rider record with a time of 4:25.77, finishing third. The old mark (4:30.19) was set in 2008.
The women's 4x800 relay of freshman Victoria Lima (Westerly, R.I), junior Chelsea Callan (Hazlet/Raritan), freshman Lauren Findley (Hallstead, Pa./Blue Ridge) and sophomore Heather Giovagnoli (Royersford, Pa./Spring Ford) won with a time of 9:46.41.
The men's 4x200 relay of Kim, freshman James Burroughs (West Orange), sophomore Mike Bartoli (Millstone/Allentown) and freshman David Hightower (Easton, Pa.) won with a time of 1:30.14.
"This is a young exciting group," Hamer said. "The freshmen, these are athletes who were very successful in high school and we expected them to impact the program right off the bat."
This was Rider's first competition since mid-December. "We were a little worried with the time between competitions," Hamer said. "They are distracted with finals and the end of the semester and you give them things to work on during that break but unless you can watch them everyday, you don't really know if they did the extra work. By what we say today, it is evident that the team bought into the need for a strong work ethic, even when we can't watch them 24-7. It is a young group but a very mature group."
The teams compete at the Monmouth Dual January 14.
"It is a quick turn around for us," Hamer added. "It will be exciting. Both Monmouth and Rider recruit the same athletes so I spoke with their coach and we thought it would be exciting to match the teams up and get together and have a dual."
-RU-
