May 5, 2007    
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Track and Field
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships - Day One
Rider Women 1st/Rider Men 2nd

LAWRENCEVILLE—On the strength of wins from senior Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) in the hammer (49.58m) and junior Rebecca Clatch (Drums, Pa./Hazelton Area) in the javelin (40.46m), the Rider women’s track and field team holds a one point lead over Manhattan College after day one of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference track and field championships hosted by Rider University this weekend.  “I thought on the men’s side, we did about as well as we could do,” said head coach Rob Pasquariello.  “On the women’s side, we made some big mental mistakes out there today and left a lot of points on the board and in a close meet, that isn’t a good thing.”

The Rider men’s team which had sophomore Desmond Hamilton (Pennsauken, N.J./Pennsauken) win the long jump with a school record 7.28m, trails Manhattan College by 40 points heading into the second day.

“This is Desmond’s third consecutive long jump championship,” said Pasquariello.  “He has shown himself to be a big meet performer.  He has come up big when we have needed him.  He took all the pressure off by posting a distance that won the event on his first jump and then he spent the rest of the event putting distance between himself and the competition.”  Hamilton won the 2006 MAAC outdoor long jump title and the 2007 MAAC indoor long jump title before posting today’s victory.

“I always try to count the long jump as a 10 point win for us,” said Hamilton.  “I was seeded first and my team was counting on me to win and I was able to pull it out.  The hard work that we are doing as a team is paying off and for me personally to continue to win the event, against competition that keeps getting stronger makes it more satisfying.  Being a three-time champion is something to be proud of.  Everyone has to compete and put it all out there.  Everyone has to do what they are capable of and do what we have been training for in order for us to have a chance to catch Manhattan.”

“Rebecca is a two-time champion,” said Pasquariello.  “She is going to give you her best each time out.  She has been here before and knows what to do and she did very well for us.”

“I did well today,” said Clatch.  “I’ve been in a little bit of a slump but I was able to make some adjustments and get the win.”

Also for the Rider women, junior Elizabeth Clatch (Drums, Pa./Hazelton Area) placed second in the javelin (37.28m), sophomore Tabatha Haskins (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) was third in the long jump (5.31m) and freshman Jessica Tack (Hummelstown, Pa./Hershey) was third in the hammer (38.92m) and seventh in the javelin (29.76m).

“Against a team like Manhattan, we are going to need every point we gave away,” said Pasquariello.  “It wasn’t anything physical, strictly mental mistakes.  I’m hoping that Rebecca and Jaz and senior Allyson Angelo talk to their younger teammates and tell them how important it is to not have mental lapses and that every single point is going to matter down the stretch.  We put them in the strongest possible competition to avoid mistakes in a pressure meet like this so we are going to have to regroup, adjust and we might have to get in their ear a little bit.  I’m hoping we got all of our mistakes out of the way today and come out as a team and battle on Sunday.”

Also for the Rider men, junior Andrew Dagenais (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) was second in the javelin (57.80m) with senior Danny Enck (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) placing fourth in both the hammer (52.62m) and javelin (47.04m).

Competition concludes on Sunday.

-RU-