BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Junior John Walker owned the track on Saturday afternoon with a pair of wins in the mile and Distance Medley Relay and senior captain Rory Houston met the IC4A standard in the 800m to lead the Saint Joseph's men's track and field squad at the Angry Birds Challenge, held at Lehigh University's Rauch Fieldhouse. The Hawks placed third out of four teams, with 90 total points, in the field of Monmouth (206.5), Lehigh (140.5), and Fairleigh Dickinson (82).
Note: All times will be converted through TFRRS for track size.
Walker won the mile in a field of 17, crossing in 4:19.88. The victory marks the first of Walker's collegiate career and comes on the heels of a PR performance in the event (4:18.71) at the Wagner College Invitational last weekend.
Senior Will Sponaugle followed Walker in the first section, coming in second in a collegiate-best time of 4:20.37.
The 1-2 mile finishes brought in 16 points for the Crimson and Gray.
Walker and Sponaugle also bookended the championship DMR of junior captain Justin Moscoe and senior captain Dylan Eddinger; the group recorded a winning time of 10:23.72 to down Lehigh (10:32.94) and Monmouth (10:33.16). With the conversion time of 10:15.37, SJU qualifies its DMR for the IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.
Senior captain Rory Houston made noise in his event, going for 1:55.56 in his first open 800m of the season, good for third in a field of 24. The conversion time of 1:53.93 qualifies the senior for IC4As.
Rookie Michael Welde turned in the top freshman performance in a 200m field of 16, clocking in at 22.87 for fourth overall. Junior captain David Bryant followed up in fifth (23.36) as the duo went 2-3 out of the second section and combined for nine points.
SJU turned in 12 points out of its 5000m group, as senior Shawn Hutchison, who turned in a time of 15:49.62 in his first indoor 5k since January 29, 2016, and junior Antonio Amaral, who crushed his previous PR in the event by over 13 seconds (15:53.82 PR), went second and fourth, respectively, in a field of eight.
Saint Joseph's 4x400m relay finished third out of 10 teams, as graduate student captain Barren McCoy, freshman Javier Linares, freshman Kyle Magee, and junior Trae' Robinson recorded a time of 3:26.08 for six points.
Senior Sean Macpherson (season-best 3000m, 8:47.95), sophomore Phillip Dwyer (High Jump, 5' 10”), and freshman Jack Martin (Long Jump, 40' 4 1/4”) added five points apiece out of their respective events.
Saint Joseph's returns to action at the Penn 8-Team Select next Saturday, January 19 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y. The meet is set to begin at 4:00 p.m.
