NEW YORK - Five Manhattan College men and four women earned gold medals at the Metropolitan Indoor Championships from the Armory Track & Field Center on Saturday. Overall, Manhattan finished third in the team competition on both the men's and women's side.
Felix Siljeback-Larsen (Vasteras, Sweden), the leader after the first day, easily won the heptathlon. His personal-best score of 5,160 points qualified for the IC4A Championships and was the No. 2 mark in school history. Ryan Degnan (Seaford, N.Y.) also tallied a personal best in the heptathlon, finishing eighth with 4,287 points.
Brian McGovern (Yonkers, N.Y.) also qualified for the IC4A Championships, winning the pole vault with a clearance of 4.95 meters (16 feet, 2¾ inches). Tobias Lundgren (Alta, Sweden) scored points in two events, finishing first in the 5000 meters in a time of 14:47.66 and placing third in the 3000 in a time of 8:31.16. Also claiming gold medals for the Manhattan men's team were Justin Chiaravelle (Danbury, Conn.) in the 60 meter hurdles (8.37) and Colin Quirke (Los Gatos, Calif.), who led a 1-2-3-5 finish in the shot put with a mark of 16.57 m (54'4½). Carlos Petrovich (Yonkers, N.Y.) qualified for the IC4A Championships in the 500 meters with a fifth-place time of 1:04.81.
On the women's side, Malin Olsson (Malmo, Sweden) won the long jump (5.78 m, 18'11¾) and took third in the triple jump (11.38 m, 37'4). Heidy Palacios (Yonkers, N.Y.) improved her ECAC-leading time in the 500 meters to 1:13.95, which earned the gold medal. Ashley Bowman (Elmont, N.Y.) won the 200 meters in an ECAC-qualifying time of 24.93 seconds, and she also finished seventh in the 60 (7.95). Manhattan's fourth winner on the women's side was Emmy Koskinen (Sodertalje, Sweden), who captured the 800 meters in 2:14.69.
Southern Connecticut State captured the men's title with 132.5 points, while St. John's edged Rutgers 147-142 for the women's crown.
Next weekend, the Jaspers return to the Armory for the Armory Collegiate Invitational.
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