2008 Woodie Awards
Men's Track "team" gets personal
Clif Duquette '08
Issue date: 2/10/06 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 2 next >
In the last two weeks, the Saint Joseph's University Men's Track Team had many athletes qualify for the IC4A Championship meet at Penn State. At Yale. Track ran personal bests, and Mike DiDio received Atlantic 10 Track Performer of the Week for the second time.
"This provided a great opportunity for guys to go out and run fast times," said DiDio. "We used it as just that. But the big emphasis of our season will be over the course of the next three weeks."
The highlighter started on January 28, when the Hawks traveled to Penn State to compete in the Penn State National Invitational. While there was not any team scoring, there were numerous of individual highlights. In the meet, six Hawks ran IC4A-qualifying times for the championship meet that will be held in the first weekend of March.
The distance squad featured three Hawks who ran IC4A-qualifying times. Senior leader Mike DiDio ran an Atlantic 10-best time of 8:20.95 in the 3,000-meter race and finished fourth overall. Junior and fellow distance stud Teddy Meyers also ran outstanding by finishing fourth in the 5,000-meter race with an Atlantic 10-best time of 14:31.45. Sophomore Will Rowland followed behind Meyers with a finishing time of 14:43.93 in the same event.
The Hawks also did extremely well in the shorter running events. Sophomore Bobby Staten qualified for the IC4A Championship Meet in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.95, a sixth-place finish. Senior Matt Petrocci then followed with a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters with an IC4A-qualifying time of 1:52.81, and fellow senior Andrew Thomas also qualified for the IC4A championships by finishing the 400 meters with an eighth-place time of 48.82.
The 4x400 relay team of Joe Bieret, Petrocci, Joe Witiw, and Thomas also made an impact, as they finished in 3:16.98 to qualify for the IC4As. DiDio believes that this team can improve as much as they want to, given the right opportunities.
"I think there are many guys on this team that are waiting for the right race to click, and when it comes, the team improvement possibilities could be limitless."
"This provided a great opportunity for guys to go out and run fast times," said DiDio. "We used it as just that. But the big emphasis of our season will be over the course of the next three weeks."
The highlighter started on January 28, when the Hawks traveled to Penn State to compete in the Penn State National Invitational. While there was not any team scoring, there were numerous of individual highlights. In the meet, six Hawks ran IC4A-qualifying times for the championship meet that will be held in the first weekend of March.
The distance squad featured three Hawks who ran IC4A-qualifying times. Senior leader Mike DiDio ran an Atlantic 10-best time of 8:20.95 in the 3,000-meter race and finished fourth overall. Junior and fellow distance stud Teddy Meyers also ran outstanding by finishing fourth in the 5,000-meter race with an Atlantic 10-best time of 14:31.45. Sophomore Will Rowland followed behind Meyers with a finishing time of 14:43.93 in the same event.
The Hawks also did extremely well in the shorter running events. Sophomore Bobby Staten qualified for the IC4A Championship Meet in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.95, a sixth-place finish. Senior Matt Petrocci then followed with a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters with an IC4A-qualifying time of 1:52.81, and fellow senior Andrew Thomas also qualified for the IC4A championships by finishing the 400 meters with an eighth-place time of 48.82.
The 4x400 relay team of Joe Bieret, Petrocci, Joe Witiw, and Thomas also made an impact, as they finished in 3:16.98 to qualify for the IC4As. DiDio believes that this team can improve as much as they want to, given the right opportunities.
"I think there are many guys on this team that are waiting for the right race to click, and when it comes, the team improvement possibilities could be limitless."