May 12, 2007 - at IC4A's/Hamilton Long Jump Champion

May 12, 2007    
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rider Track and Field
at ICAAAA/ECAC Championships
Hamilton ICAAAA Long Jump Champion / All-East
Fenlaor All-East in the Discus

PRINCETON—Several members of the Rider University track and field teams are competing this weekend at the ICAAAA and ECAC Championships hosted by Princeton University.  “Today was a good day,” said head coach Rob Pasquariello.  “For only the third time ever, we had an IC4A champion.  It was a very exciting moment for our program.”

For the Broncs on Saturday, sophomore Desmond Hamilton (Pennsauken, N.J./Pennsauken) won long jump (25’8.75”) and placed ninth in the 100m (10.75).  The long jump distance ranks Hamilton fourth in the nation and his win is only the third all-time for Rider in IC4A competition and first since 1994.

Jose Lopez won the 400m hurdles in 1994 with Marcus Edghill winning the triple jump in 1986.

“Desmond continues to prove he is a big meet performer,” said Pasquariello.  “I told him this morning that he could get at least 25 feet and he even exceeded what I thought he would do.  The conditions were right for him to do well and he has done all of the things that we have asked so that he can succeed.  He’s young and raw and our expectations for him keep going up.  He set four ‘PR’s’ while winning the competition and that’s an impressive effort.”

For the Rider women senior Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) placed fourth in the discus (46.73m) to earn her seventh All-East honor and also placed ninth in the hammer (51.60m).  “Jazmine had already qualified for regionals so there was no real sense of urgency for her today,” said Pasquariello.  “With that said, I know that as a competitor, Jaz wanted to do a little better.  She is very consistent and even though she didn’t have her best day, she was still able to accomplish All-East honors and to do that for the seventh time in her career speaks volumes for the kind of athlete that she has become.”

Also for Rider, senior David Payne (Neptune, N.J./Neptune) qualified for the finals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter which will be contested on Sunday.  Payne had the second fastest time in the 100 (10.57) and fourth fastest (21.17) in the 200.

“David put himself in excellent position to win both races on Sunday,” said Pasquariello.  “Most of his competition is running the 200 and 400 and since he is running the 100 and 200, he will be fresher than the other runners and his times indicate that he will be in the running for a top position in each race.  We expect him to be ready to roll tomorrow.”

Senior Danny Enck (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) threw 48.37m in the hammer with junior Andrew Dagenais (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) hitting the 56.00m mark in the javelin.

Competition concludes on Sunday.

-RU-