Day One Results
BRONX, N.Y. – After the first day of the Metropolitan Championships, the Manhattan College men's indoor track & field team was sitting in first place with 31.5 points. The Jasper women, meanwhile, were in third with 26 points after three events at Fordham University's Lombardi Center.
While the majority of the meet will take place on Friday, the men's and women's weight throw and pole vault, as well as the women's pentathlon and the first day of the men's heptathlon were held on Thursday.
The Jaspers' first gold medal of the meet came in the men's pole vault, as Savio Paul (Yonkers, N.Y.) cleared 4.65 meters (15 feet, three inches) on his first attempt, giving him the win over Wagner's Skylar Johnson. Chris Sandoli (Old Bridge, N.J.) was sixth with a leap of 4.20 m (13'9¼), while Matthew Pluhowski (East Patchogue, N.Y.) tied for eighth place (4.05 m, 13'3½).
Meanwhile, in the men's weight throw, the Jaspers went 2-3-5. Blerim Pocesta (Staten Island, N.Y.) was second with a toss of 18.46 m (60'6¾) and Love Litzell (Ostersund, Sweden) placed third with a 17.95 m (58'10¾) effort. Killian Barry (Dublin, Ireland) completed the 18-point showing for Manhattan in the event with a fifth-place mark of 16.67 m (54'8¼).
In addition, Stefan Hoeller (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) and Alexandre Folacci (Tours, France) began competition in the heptathlon. Hoeller had the best mark in the shot put (11.70 m, 38'4¾) and was in third place with 2488 points, just 80 points behind the leader, Zach Ghizzone of Rutgers. Folacci sat in fifth place with a score of 2411 points.
On the women's side, Charlene Pohl (Bisingen, Germany) finished second in the pentathlon with 3295 points. She had the third-best mark of the competition in the high jump (1.61 m, 5'3¼), then moved into second place with a long jump of 5.48 m (17'11¾). Pohl placed fourth in the 800 meters (2:37.22) to hang on to the silver medal behind Southern Connecticut State's Angelique Ross.
Manhattan also got second-place points from Marisa Robbins (Goshen, N.Y.) in the pole vault. She cleared 3.45 m (11'3¾) on her first attempt. Maddesen Weekes (Clifton Park, N.Y.) had a second-attempt clearance at that height to take fourth place on misses. Lydia Wehrli (Anieres, Switzerland), meanwhile, ended up fourth in the weight throw, getting out to a distance of 16.55 m (54'3¾).
St. John's and Southern Connecticut State are tied for first with 33 points, seven ahead of the Manhattan women. The Jasper men were 15.5 points clear of second-place Rutgers after two events. Competition resumes at 11 a.m. on Friday at the New Balance Armory Track & Field Center.
