College Outdoor Track & Field
Rider Invitational
Men Win, Women Place Fourth
Pozo Rider Record - Hammer Throw
LAWRENCEVILLE—Led by a Rider record in the hammer throw from senior Andrew Pozo (Forked River/Toms River HS South), the Rider University men's track and field team placed first out of 23 teams with the Bronc women finishing fourth out of 22 teams on Saturday afternoon in the Rider Invitational.
“It was a great day,” said head coach Bob Hamer. “A little breezy but overall it was a great atmosphere. The throws group especially did a nice job. Pozo has been on a roll lately and that's been awesome.”
"Honestly it feels great and long overdue on breaking the record," Pozo said. "I'm hoping my teammates keep cheering me on as much as they do because without them I wouldn't be able to accomplish the things I do. Being a senior on this team feels amazing and again, I owe that to my teammates. Breaking the hammer throw record just felt so right to accomplish that at our home meet. Without my biggest supporters, best friends, teammates and coaches I wouldn't have been able to do what I did today."
Over 1,400 student-athletes competed in the meet on the Lawrenceville campus with over 600 students, parents and fans in attendance.
“We had a lot of great help to pull the meet off,” Hamer said. “From Brian Keane and Blake Burkey, everyone did a tremendous job to make it happen. It's a lot of work and your attention is divided. We had a lot happening on campus today and there was a great buzz of activity. It was admitted students day and several of our recruits came down and watch the meet. We had a lot of families and a lot of alumni as well. Having that much activity in a sport that we work so hard to make relevant is a great thing. It was a first class meet in a great atmosphere.”
Pozo threw 55.31m, which converts to more than 181', topping the 2010 mark by Brandon Wolf of 176'8”.
Also for the Bronc men, sophomore Devon Jefferson (Franklin Park/Franklin) was a winner in the 110 meter hurdles with an IC4A qualifying time of 14.80, junior Darien Edwards (South Orange/St. Benedict's) won the 400 meter hurdles (54.58), junior Jon Knipper (Randolph) won the 3,000 meter steeplechase (10:04.59), senior Anthony DeFranco (Berkeley Heights/Governor Livingston) won the pole vault with an IC4A height of 4.85m, freshman Shabazz Shuler (Long Branch) won the long jump in an IC4A qualifying distance of 7.19m, sophomore Kyle Bryant (Cherry Hill/Cherry Hill HS East) won the triple jump (14.15m) and senior George Solujich (East Windsor/Notre Dame) won the shot put with an IC4A qualifying distance of 16.81m.
“The men's jumpers did a great job,” Hamer added. “That was exciting because it's a group that we have been challenging each week. I'm excited for what they can build on.”
For the Rider women, freshman Cleopatra Morrison (Long Branch) won the 100 meter dash (12.39), junior Daria Chadwick (Summit) won the high jump (1.65m) and junior Olivia Rosenberger (North Wales, Pa./Gwynedd Mercy Academy) won the triple jump (11.65m).
Overall, the Rider men won eight of the 20 events and finished six points ahead of second place NYU 200 to 194.
The Rider women finished with 112 points, behind champion Kutztown (245) with Sacred Heart placing second (149) and NYU finishing third (146).
Rider competes at Princeton's Larry Ellis Invitational April 17-18 and the Broncs will also compete at the Greyhound Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania April 18 and the Phoenix Invitational in Elon, North Carolina April 18.
“Our goals remain the same and that is to compete for a conference championship,” Hamer added. “Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to work on getting some better seed times and using the momentum from today, I think we have turned the corner with learning how to compete.”
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