STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's track and field team finished in seventh place, out of seven competing teams, at the East Coast Conference Championship meet held tonight at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. Daemen accumulated 26 team points. Roberts Wesleyan College amassed 164 points to secure the ECC title.
Junior Niko Jemmison (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Generation) continued his solid indoor season and established two school records this evening. He qualified for the 60 meter dash finals after posting a school-record time of 7.12 in the preliminary round, and followed up with a time of 7.17 in the finals to place fourth out of eight runners. He also posted a school-record time of 22.84 and placed sixth in the 200 meter dash.
Junior Jeremy Rushok (Akron, N.Y./Buffalo State College) recorded the highest finish by a Daemen student-athlete this evening, as he placed second in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 15:57.15. Sophomore Kevin Roginson (Amherst, N.Y./Willamsville North) also recorded a top-five finish in the 5,000 meters, as he placed fourth with a time of 16:04.78. Rushok, Roginson and freshman Lucas Canales (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) led Daemen to a strong showing in the 3,000 meter run as well. Canales placed seventh with a time of 9:31.77 and was followed closely by Rushok in eighth (9:31.98) and Roginson in ninth (9:51.61).
Additional highlights of the track events included a sixth place showing by freshman Jake Pronti (Pendleton, N.Y./Starpoint) in the 1,000 meters (2:47.42), eighth place efforts by junior Nigel Cordulla (Cheektowaga, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) in the 800 meter run (2:06.78) and freshman Jonny Schmidt (Clarence Center, N.Y./Clarence) in the 400 meter run (55.23) and a 10th place showing by freshman Timothy Poole (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) in the one mile run (4:50.97).
Daemen's distance medley team of Canales, Pronti, Cordulla and freshman Joseph Tracy (Malone, N.Y./Franklin Academy) placed third with a school-record time of 11:09.79.
Sophomore Zach Laird (Alexander, N.Y./Alexander Central) recorded three top-ten finishes during the field events. He placed sixth in the shot put (13.14 meters), eighth in long jump (5.82 meters) and tenth in the weight throw (12.11 meters). Freshman Tanner Speer (Gasport, N.Y./Grand Island) also registered a top-ten finish and placed eighth in the triple jump (11.57 meters).
Daemen resumes its 2016 season when the outdoor portion of the schedule gets underway with the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by the University of Rochester on March 26.
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