College Indoor Track and Field
IC4A/ECAC Championships Day 2
Hightower - All-East - 60m hurdles
BOSTON, Mass.--The Rider men's and women's indoor track and field teams participated in the IC4A / ECAC Championships hosted by Boston University this weekend.
For the Rider men, junior David Hightower (Easton, Pa./Easton) earned All-East honors with an eighth place finish in the 60m hurdles (8.22).
"We are really excited that David achieved All-East honors," said head coach Bob Hamer. "This is a great accomplishment for him. We always talk about not just being happy to get here but to take things to the next level and David did that. He wasn't happy just to get to the final, he wanted All-East and went out and did it."
Hightower earned indoor All-East honors in the 60m hurdles as a sophomore and followed that effort with All-East honors in the 110m hurdles during the outdoor season, qualifying for the NCAA East Regional in Indiana.
"David has always been very, very talented," Hamer added. "Under coach Dorival, he has improved tremendously and David has really become one of our most steady performers in a championship meet situation. David is committed and dedicated and someone that others should try to emulate."
Junior James Burroughs (West Orange) fell short of making the 60m hurdle finals running an 8.42 in his semi-final heat finishing seventh.
For the Rider women, the distance medley relay team of senior Heather Giovagnoli (Royersford, Pa./Spring Ford), junior Ashley Hunter (Northampton, Pa./Northampton), junior Mia Riley (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell), and freshman Emily Ritter (Millsboro, DE/Sussex Tech) finished 12th with a time of 11:59.70.
"I thought the women's DMR was very competitive," Hamer said. "They all ran really, really well and I thought it was a great effort."
Also for the Rider men, sophomore Steven Brown (Penns Grove) finished 12th in the triple jump (14.46 m), freshman Jonathan Galya (Freehold/Freehold Twp.) placed 29th (2.04m) in his IC4A debut and in the shot put, junior Jorge Merino (Old Bridge) ended in 34th throwing 14.96m.
Also for the Rider women, sophomore Lauryn Strebeck (Dayton, Ohio/South Brunswick) finished 19th in the triple jump (11.19m), sophomore Rhea Phipps (Basking Ridge/Ridge) tossed 16.35m and sophomore Treasure Burke (Pennsauken/Camden Catholic) threw 16.02m in the weight throw.
"Treasure threw a 'PR' (personal record) in the weight throw," Hamer said. "She did a nice job in her event."
On Saturday in the IC4A meet for the Rider men, sophomore Steven Brown (Penns Grove) placed sixth in the long jump (23-03.25), earning All-East honors.
Rider opens the outdoor track and field season on March 23-24 in the Monmouth Invitational.
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