RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Manhattan College men's indoor track & field team has won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) title in each of the past 17 years, one of the longest active conference championships winning streaks in the country. The Jaspers will look to make it 18 on Friday night when the MAAC Indoor Championships return to the New Balance Armory Track & Field Center. On the women's side, Manhattan is out to regain the top spot for the first time since 2010.
Manhattan will be led by a jumps squad that includes 2013 outdoor All-American Mohamed Koita (Cergy, France), who ranks eighth nationally in the high jump. The Jaspers will also be counting on strong performances by Hayden Clarke (Townsville, Australia) in the long jump and Trevell Moxey (Lansdale, Pa.) in the triple jump. One of Manhattan's deepest events is the pole vault, as Justin Farrenkopf (Ellenville, N.Y.), Savio Paul (Yonkers, N.Y.), Stefan Hoeller (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) and Dean Hefnawy (Westport, Conn.) are all capable of winning the event.
Another one of the team's strongest areas is in the throws. Blerim Pocesta (Staten Island, N.Y.) has been a consistently strong performer in the weight throw this season, while Rokas Kirlys (Kamaji, Lithuania) was the silver medalist in the shot put at this meet last year.
Greg Perrier (Dix Hills, N.Y.) is the defending champion in the 800 meters, while Mikael Rojeras (Sala, Sweden) will contend in both the 800 and the mile. Anthony Hall (Mountainville, N.Y.) has had a solid freshman season in the short sprints, while Sheldon Derenoncourt (Patchogue, N.Y.) boasts one of the MAAC's top times in the 400 meters.
“It's going to take a lot of people in a lot of different events to win that 18th championship in a row,” Head Coach Dan Mecca, who's been at Manhattan for each of the 17 previous titles, said. “It's got to be every area doing the best they can. We need to have a good meet across the board.”
On the women's side, Bianca Marten (Waiblingen, Germany) is entered in three events. Marten is the No. 1 seed in the triple jump and No. 2 seed in the long jump, in addition to being seeded third in the 60 meter hurdles. Ida Virdebrant (Nobbelle, Sweden), meanwhile, set a school record in the high jump last weekend. The Jaspers also have a solid group of pole vaulters that includes Marisa Robbins (Goshen, N.Y.), Sarah Moore (Irvington, N.Y.), Breanna Brucher (Glen Spey, N.Y.) and Maddesen Weekes (Clifton Park, N.Y.), all of whom are capable of continuing Manhattan's winning tradition in the event.
Lydia Wehrli (Anieres, Switzerland) and Lina Bengtson (Malmo, Sweden) will contribute points in the throws. Wehrli is among the best weight throwers in the conference, while Bengtson has qualified for the ECAC Championships in the shot put.
In the sprints, Manhattan will look to Kathy Cadet (Endicott, N.Y.). Milena Stoicev (Nis, Serbia) will be in the mix for the medals in both the 800 meters and mile, and Alexandra Cappello (Scarsdale, N.Y.) has had a solid indoor season in the longer distances. She'll run the 3000 meters and distance medley relay on Friday night.
“We need a lot of athletes to do everything they can to help us do the best we can as a team (on the women's side),” Mecca said. “I'll think it's a success if we compete as well as we can.”
One big difference between this year's meet and past seasons, though, is new conference member Monmouth. The Hawks won Northeast Conference indoor & outdoor championships on both the men's and women's side last season, and are considered the favorites to end Manhattan's streak. Rider won the 2013 MAAC outdoor title and also boasts a strong team, while Saint Peter's and Iona are also expected to challenge.
Monmouth's women are also favored. However, Saint Peter's is the three-time defending champion and Rider captured the 2013 MAAC outdoor crown. It will be a tight battle for the top spot on the podium between those three schools, as well as the Jaspers.
“It's a four-team race on both sides,” Mecca said. “Monmouth should be the favorite. They're just loaded. We should be right in there with Rider and Saint Peter's to make it a good four-way meet. We could be anywhere from first to fourth depending on how our athletes go out there and compete.”
The addition of Monmouth (as well as the Quinnipiac women) has also resulted in a change to the meet's scoring. Previously, the women's events were scored to eight places, while only the top six men's finishers earned team points. Now both genders will be scored from first to eighth (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1).
Competition gets underway with the women's weight throw at 3:45 p.m. and is scheduled to conclude with the men's 4x400 meter relay at approximately 10:15 p.m. The entire meet will be webcast in high-definition on MAAC.tv for the second straight year.
