Jan. 7, 2005

BRONX, NY - Sparked by senior Doug Rick, junior Andrew Thomas and the 4x400 relay which all met IC4A qualifying standards, the Saint Joseph's men's track team returned to the oval with a solid fourth place finish in the 15 team field at the Fordham Invitationl.

Thomas bested the field in a time of 48.90 to capture the 400m, while Rick ran 1:04.61 to place fourth in the 500 meter. Both times were fast enough to qualify for IC4As. The pair also teamed with Joe Bietet and Matt Petocci in the 4x400. Thomas ran the second leg and Rick was the anchor as the quartet captured its event and also met IC4A standards with a time of 3:18.41.

Several other Hawks also posted strong performances, particularly in the distance events. Senior Collin Martin (8:33.73) and sophomore Teddy Meyers (8:46.09) ran one-two in the 3000m. At 5000m, freshman Will ROwland placed second (15:27.84) and Shawn Duffy finished seventh (16:04.94).

In the middle distances, junior Mike DiDio placed third in the mile with a time of 4:14.40, while classmate Joe Mohn narrowly missed scoring clocking in at 4:20.44. Petrocci, also ran 2:31.01 in the 1000m.

Besides the 4x400, the 4x800, which included Rich Anderson, DiDIo, Mohn and Kyle Laudadio, placed second in a time of 7:58.75.

In the sprints and jumps, freshman Bobby Staten placed second in his heat with a time of 7.10 and then returned with a time of 7.15 to finish seventh overall in the 60m dash. Long Jumper Joe Witiw placed eighth with a leap of 20-10.

SJU accumulated 73 points to finish behind Rutgers (126), Rider (102.5) and Manhattan (90.5) in the team standings.