TEMPE, Ariz. - Manhattan College's outdoor track & field season officially got underway on Friday and Saturday, as the Jaspers made their annual trip to Arizona for the Baldy Castillo Invitational at Arizona State's Sun Angel Stadium. The meet was highlighted by seven ECAC/IC4A qualifying performances, including two each by Roman Ewald (Olching, Germany) and Colin Quirke (Los Gatos, Calif.).
On Friday night, Ewald qualified for the IC4A Championships in the hammer throw with a mark of 53.82 meters (176 feet, seven inches). That toss was good enough for 10th place in the competition. Then on Saturday, Ewald qualified in the discus throw, finishing sixth with a mark of 48.66 m (159'8). Quirke placed fifth in the discus throw (50.75 m, 166'6) to also qualify for IC4As. He also led a 3-6-7 Manhattan finish in the shot put. Quirke's third-place toss of 15.74 m (51'7¾) bettered the IC4A qualifying mark, while Ewald finished sixth (14.82 m, 48'7½) and Rokas Kirlys (Kamaji, Lithuania) was seventh (14.80 m, 48'6¾).
In addition, Brian McGovern (Yonkers, N.Y.) took the silver medal in the pole vault with an IC4A-qualifying clearance of 5.02 m (16'5½). In the long jump, Albert Johnson III (Painted Post, N.Y.) uncorked a leap of 6.92 m (22'8½) to place fifth.
Leading the way for the women's squad were ECAC qualifiers Malin Olsson (Malmo, Sweden) and Cara Rostant (Valley Stream, N.Y.). Olsson took fifth in the long jump with a leap of 5.89 m (19'4), while Rostant was third in the 200 meters (24.77).
Heidy Palacios (Yonkers, N.Y.) placed third in the 400 meters (56.13) and took ninth in the 200 (25.54). Ashley Bowman (Elmont, N.Y.) also had a strong meet. She secured sixth place in the 200 (25.31) and was seventh in the 100 (12.30). Emmy Koskinen (Sodertalje, Sweden) ran the 800 meters in a time of 2:12.93, good enough for seventh place.
Next weekend, the Jaspers return to action at the Dick Shea Invitational, which will be hosted by Army.
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