Men's Track & Field | 5/4/2019 4:40:00 PM
TROY, NY – The RIT men's track and field team placed second out of eight teams at the 2019 Liberty League Outdoor Track Liberty League Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held at Harkness Field on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 3-4.
The Tigers finished with 182 points to nip Ithaca (177) for second. Host RPI won its 11th straight league championship with 222 points. Four individuals and two relay teams were victorious for the Tigers in the two-day event.
Both relay teams were victorious for the Tigers on Saturday. RIT's 4 x 100-meter relay team of
Matthew Lienhard (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic),
Max Gloskey (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas),
Stephen Morrissey (New Milford, CT/Trinity-Pawling School) and
Curtis Geiger (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) continued its tremendous year, rolling to victory by nearly two seconds in a meet record time of 41.67 seconds. The 4 x 400-meter relay team of
Christopher Callejo (West Babylon, NY/Patchouge-Medford), Walter, Morrissey and Geiger took control at the midway point and emerged victorious by just over a second in a time of 3:18.87.
Gloskey would also win the 110-meter hurdles by 39 one-hundredths of a second in 14.91 seconds. He recorded a time of 14.90 seconds in the prelims Friday.
RIT would have four of the top seven finishers in the 100-yard dash, earning 20 team points. Lienhard was second by the narrowest of margins, one, one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 10.91 seconds. Geiger was third, recording a time of 11.04 seconds, while
Jeff Walter (Buffalo, NY/St. Francis) was fifth (11.24 seconds) and
Jon Ennin (Sunnyvale, TX/Sunnyvale) (11.31 seconds) placed seventh.
The Tigers were also well represented in the 200-yard dash, with four of the top six finishers. Gloskey was second overall in 22.43 seconds, while Geiger was one tenth of a second back in third.
Stephen Morrissey (New Milford, CT/Trinity-Pawling School) placed fourth in 22.65 seconds, while Ennin finished sixth (23.11 seconds).
Matthew Funicelli (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) earned runner-up honors in both the shot put (14.69 meters) and discus throw (45.51 meters).
Zach Darling (Rome, PA/Northeast Bradford) and
Mickey Evans (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville North) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the shot put, while
Matt Ciminelli (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) was eighth in the discus.
Devante Marshall (Gloversville, NY/Mayfield) earned a strong second place finish in the triple jump, leaping 13.83 meters, while
Raphael Abel (/) (13.43 meters) was fifth.
Callejo finished sixth in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 50.28 seconds.
Zack Wigent (Fariport, NY/Fairport) placed seventh in the 110-meter hurdles (16.57 seconds) and was eighth in the high jump, clearing 1.78 meters.
Ellyson Grant (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles, recording a time of 1:00.17.
Andrew Chabot (Campton, NH/Plymouth Regional) placed fifth in the 1,500-meter run, recording a time of 4:00.79, while
Doug Luba (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth-Whitemarsh) was eighth in 4:05.51.
Zach Thesier (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) recorded a personal-best time of 1:56.97 in the 800-meters to finish sixth.
A pair of Tigers won individual events Friday. Senior
Evan Feigel (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) won the 10,000-meter run by a remarkable 38 seconds. He crossed the finish line in a personal best time of 31:06.46, which was also a Liberty League Championship record. He became the third consecutive Tiger to win the event, joining
James Bailey (Danvers, MA/Danvers) in 2017 and
Otto Kingstedt (Stockholm, Sweden/Cybergymnasiet) last year. Kingstedt would finish ninth in the 5,000-meter run Saturday.
Walter won his first Liberty League title in the long jump Friday, recording a leap of 7.09 meters. Marshall was right behind in fourth place with a top jump of 6.97 meters. Walter was third in the event last season.
RIT had three top-seven finishers in the hammer throw. Darling was the runner-up with a career-best throw of 50.50 meters. Evans also recorded a career-best throw of 46.11 meters to place fourth overall, while freshman
Matthew Funicelli (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) was seventh, firing the hammer 45.71 meters.
The Tigers also had three of the top-six finishers in the pole vault.
Alberto Lafuente Veron () was third, clearing 4.55 meters, while
Thomas James (/) was right behind in fourth, surpassing 4.40 meters.
Nick Baxter (Windsor, NY/Windsor) placed sixth, clearing 4.25 meters, while
William Phifer (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) was ninth (4.10 meters).
Kyle Higby (Mexico, NY/Mexico) and
Jay Humphreys (Sherman, CT/New Milford) placed fifth and sixth overall, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Higby recorded a time of 9:49.56 to place fifth, while Humphreys was four seconds behind in sixth.
RIT returns to action on Saturday, May 11 at the Geneseo Last Chance Invitational.
