College Track and Field
Two Rider Records Set in the DMR
at the New Balance Invitational

ARMORY, N.Y.--Both the Rider University men's and women's distance medley relays set Rider records on Friday night at the New Balance Invitational at the Armory in New York.

For the Bronc men, the DMR won with an IC4A qualifying time of 9:57.37 with junior Christian Gonzalez (Somerset/Franklin Twp.), freshman Daequan Kim (Bordentown), sophomore David South (Sergeantsville/Hunterdon Central) and junior Michael Soroko (Kinnelon) competing.

"They ran great," said head coach Bob Hamer about the men's effort.  "I was really happy with their performance.  Gonzalez was key because he led off and put us in a great position to win the race and Soroko ran a great anchor leg as well."

For the Bronc women, sophomore Heather Giovagnoli (Royersford, Pa./Spring Ford), freshman Ashley Hunter (Northampton, Pa./Northampton), junior Johanna Clarke (Laurelton, N.Y./Mary Louis Academy) and junior Chelsea Callan (Hazlet/Raritan) finished with a time of 12:10.12.  The time just missed qualifying for ECACs.

"The women ran a really solid race," Hamer added.  "We were a little disappointed because we missed an ECAC qualifying time by about one and a half seconds."

The old men's record was 10:00.61, set in 2008 and the old women's record was set in 2000 (12:36:23).

"Our program is getting to the next level," Hamer added.  "Our goal tonight was to show that the competition that Rider track is doing some really good things."

Rider competes against The College of New Jersey on Sunday in a dual meet at Lawrenceville Prep.

"We are really excited about the meet," Hamer said.  "The schools are only a few miles apart and the athletes know one another and we train at the same facility so it is kind of a rivalry and there is a little hype and pride on the line.  It should be a lot of fun."

-RU-