Boston, Mass. (March 4, 2006)--After day one of the IC4A Indoor Championships in Boston, the Manhattan Men are in perfect position to make a final push toward capturing the school's ninth indoor team championship when the meet concludes on Sunday. After accumulating 28.5 points on the opening day of the competition, the Jaspers sit atop the leaderboard with perennial northeast powerhouse Rutgers University nipping at their heels. The Scarlet Knights sit in second place with 18 points followed by the U.S. Military Academy's 12 team points. In all, 21 schools scored on the first day, with Manhattan doing the most damage in the long jump and weight throw events.
The same four men who made IC4A and NCAA history last spring at the 2005 Outdoor Championships all picked up valuable points for Manhattan. Senior
Michael Freeman led a 2-3-4-7 finish for the Jaspers with a throw of 19.67m. Junior
Paul Peulich (19.36m) was the third place finisher, followed by senior
Anders Constantin (18.96m) in fourth and senior
Zoran Loncar (17.78m) in the seventh spot.
In the long jump, junior
Nick Newman earned the fifth spot with a leap of 7.09m with sophomore
Dexter Jules just off of that pace with a sixth-place mark of 7.08m. Junior Dennis Street, who recently joined Manhattan after spending his first two years at the University of Rhode Island, picked up a half of a point for the Jaspers by tying Corey Brown of Mt. St. Mary's in eighth at 6.92m.
The jumpers will try to add to Manhattan's point total as they participate in the triple jump on Sunday. Sophomore shot putter
Milan Jotanovic, who broke the MAAC Meet record at the conference championships two weeks ago with a heave of 19.28m, will also look to pick up points for the Jaspers when his event is held on day two.
On the women's side, three-time MAAC Indoor pole vault champion Jenna Daly recorded a tenth-place finish by clearing 3.55m. Also fresh off of her MAAC title, sophomore high jumper Caitlin Kjolhede earned ninth place in the ECAC field with a mark of 1.70m. Freshman Paige McConney was right behind Kjolhede in tenth at 1.65m.
Senior multi athlete
Jessica Jansson was responsible for what head coach
Dan Mecca coined "the iron man performance of the day." After finishing 13th in the pentathlon with points, Jansson set a new personal best in the 800m by completing the race in 2:26.00. She then filled in for an injured Kendra Gellar in the women's 4x400 relay.
The Championships conclude on Sunday, March 5.
