ECC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS — FULL RESULTS

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's track and field team placed second out of four teams at the 2021 East Coast Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship held this afternoon on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College.

The Wildcats totaled 142 points and placed second behind Roberts Wesleyan. The host Redhawks accumulated 251 points and claimed the team title for the first time since 2016. St. Thomas Aquinas College, which had claimed the last three team titles, placed third with 141 points—just one point behind Daemen. Molloy College finished fourth with 94 points.

Daemen's second place finish ranks as the best finish for the Wildcats since they first started competing at the event in 2013. Daemen's previous best finish was fourth place, which the Wildcats accomplished in 2017, 2018 and 2019.


HIGHLIGHTS

• Graduate student Sullivan Keller (Alden, N.Y.) nearly took individual medalist honors in all four throwing events. He placed first in the shot put, hammer throw and javelin, and came in second in the discus.
• He posted a personal best throw of 51.22 meters in the javelin, which was nearly 10 meters better than the second place toss (42.21 meters) by Sean Lenahan of Molloy. Keller placed first out of seven competitors in the hammer throw with a score of 47.81 meters, once again winning the event by 10 meters. The shot put was a more competitive event, as he posted a toss of 14.80 meters to finish first ahead of Demar Osbourne (12.26 meters) of Roberts Wesleyan. Osbourne would get the better of Keller in the discus, as Keller's final throw of 35.95 meters came three meters shy of Osbourne's first place toss of 38.88 meters.
• Redshirt sophomore Erik Matthews (Galway, N.Y.) earned individual medalist honors with a school-record time in both the 110 meter and 400 meter hurdles. Matthews broke the school record in the 400 meters hurdles for the third time this season. He posted a time of 57.25 seconds today, which bested his previous school record of 58.08 he set last week at the University at Buffalo Twilight Invitational. Matthews would also break his own school record in the 110 meter hurdles, as he placed first today with a time of 16.53 seconds. He ran the 110 meter hurdles for the first time in his career at the UB Twilight Invitational last week and set the school record of 17.25. Matthews also took part in the long jump and triple jump today. He placed fifth in the long jump (6.14 meters) and second in the triple jump with a personal best leap of 12.41 meters.
• Matthews also collected the ECC Elite 19 Award for men's track and field. The award goes to the competing athlete with the highest grade point average.
• Junior Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) competed in three events and earned individual medalist honors in the triple jump with a school record leap of 13.17 meters. He eclipsed the previous school record of 12.85 meters which was posted by Shaquille Corrica during the 2018 Alfred State Invitational. Moffitt also placed second in the high jump today with a leap of 1.85 meters, and seventh in the long jump (5.75 meters).
• Freshman Hessen Bahgat (Fredonia, N.Y.) enjoyed a solid ECC Championship debut, competing in four events and placing first in the pole vault with a score of 3.05 meters. He also placed fifth in the high jump (1.60 meters) and fifth in the javelin (31.32 meters), and made his collegiate debut in the shot put and placed seventh (10.35 meters).
• Sophomore Dominic Clementi (Barker, N.Y.) turned in a solid effort in the 400 meters, as he placed third out of 10 runners with a school-record time of 51.09 seconds. He narrowly bested the previous program standard of 51.14 set by Niko Jemmison during the 2014 ECC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Clementi also ran the 200 meter dash for the first time in his career and placed 10th out of 17 runners (24.32).
• Freshman Jon Moote (Wilson, N.Y.) placed sixth in the 1,500 meters (4:23.47), while sophomore John Bruggman (Batavia, N.Y.) also finished sixth in the 800 meters (2:01.84).
• Freshmen David Schwinger (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Steven Blatto (Lancaster, N.Y.) both ran the 10,000 meters for the first time in their brief careers. Schwinger placed fifth (37:34.87) out of six runners and Blatto placed sixth (37:58.70).
• Event debuts were also tap for freshmen Phil Ceccarelli (Hamburg, N.Y.), Connor O'Brien (Hamburg, N.Y.) and Pat Petronsky (Blasdell, N.Y.) and junior Alexander Reynolds (Olean, N.Y.). Ceccarelli placed seventh in the 400 meters (53.40), O'Brien placed third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase (10:30.10), Petronsky finished third in the pole vault (2.60 meters) and Reynolds placed ninth in the 1,500 meters (5:23.91).
• Juniors Zach Brainard (Lancaster, N.Y.) and Mason Storm (South Bristol, N.Y.) also competed for the Wildcats today. Brainard placed sixth in the triple jump (11.03 meters) and Storm placed 10th in the 400 meters (110.49).
• The Daemen relay teams placed second in the 4x800 meters, third in the 4x400 meters and fourth in the 4x100 meters.

UP NEXT

The Wildcats return to the Roberts Wesleyan campus on May 14 to take part in the Redhawks Capstone Meet.

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Support Daemen College's return to intercollegiate athletic competitions by making a contribution to the Game On Campaign and the Daemen Wildcats Gotta Play Fund. This comprehensive fundraising campaign was established to help offset the loss of valuable external revenue streams that directly support Daemen's 17 varsity teams. To learn more, visit daemenwildcats.com/gameon.