STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Junior Zach Michon (3000m) and SJU's 4x400m relay both placed second to lead the Saint Joseph's men's track and field squad to a fifth-place team finish in a field of eight squads at the Penn 8-Team Select, held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Saturday evening. The Hawks totaled 26 points for the meet, with Michon and the 4x4 taking home 16 of them.
Michon crossed the finish line of his first 3000m race of the season in an IC4A-qualifying time of 8:20.51, good for second in a field of 22 racers. The time was just under two seconds off from race winner Cameron Avery's of Stony Brook and qualifies the junior for the IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.
After eight attempts throughout the first three meets of the season, Saint Joseph's finally qualified its 4x400m relay for IC4As as freshman Michael Welde, junior captain Justin Moscoe, junior Trae' Robinson, and freshman Michael Szwed recorded a time of 3:19.29, good for second in a field of 18.
Welde added a fourth-place finish in a field of 39 in the open 400m, crossing in a season-best time of 49.42 for the second-fastest freshman performance in the event. Moscoe followed up in sixth (season-best 49.71) as the duo combined for five points.
Senior captain Rory Houston (1:55.76) and junior John Walker (1:55.79 PR) went fifth and sixth, respectively, in an 800m field of 39 to also combine for three points for the Crimson and Gray.
Junior captain David Bryant took home SJU's other two points with a fifth-place finish in the 60m finals, checking in with a collegiate-best time of 7.13.
Also of note out of the non-scoring performances, sophomore Sebastian Eaton ran the 200m in 22.66 to just miss scoring with a seventh-place showing in the event, while sophomore Phillip Dwyer hit a collegiate-best long jump mark of 20' 6 1/4" for 12th overall.
The Hawks return to action at the two-day Penn State National Open next Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26. Both the field and track events will run from 4:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. on Friday while Saturday will see competition go from 11:15 a.m. through 5:30 p.m.
