STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Hawks took home a pair of second-place finishes as the Saint Joseph's men's track and field squad opened the 2019-20 campaign at the unscored Fastrack Season Opener, held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Friday evening.
 
Senior Christian Roberts finished as SJU's top miler with a second-place finish in a field of 48, crossing in 4:22.48.
 
SJU's second second-place performance came from its 4x800m relay group of senior Will Davies, sophomore Javier Linares, junior Joshua Richard, and sophomore Michael Szwed. The Hawks put together a time of 7:49.99 to take the runner-up spot in the field of seven.
 
Szwed also opened his sophomore campaign with an open 500m time of 1:06.16, good for 10th in the 39-man field.
 
Sophomore Michael Welde was SJU's top option in the short sprints. Welde won his 400m heat to place fourth overall in a field of 55 (49.95) and won his 200m heat to place 13th overall in a field of 74 (22.74).
 
A pair of sophomores earned sixth-place finishes in the middle distance events as Dan Mink (800m, 1:59.64) and Aidan Sauer (1000m, 2:34.58) led the Hawks in their respective events; Sauer improved upon his best 1000m time from last year by over two seconds.
 
Junior Vincent Giordano finished 20th in a field of 75 sprinters in the 60m dash, crossing in a collegiate-best time of 7.15; Giordano finished second in his eight-man heat. The junior was also the top Hawk out of the long jump, going for 6.10m for 11th in the field of 32.
 
SJU's first 4x400m relay time of the indoor campaign will go down as 3:26.41, courtesy junior Sebastian Eaton and seniors Aaron Lemma, Trae' Robinson, and Justin Moscoe.
 
Also of note, freshman Ladi Bamgbose took the top freshman spot in the 400m, placing eighth in the 55-man field with a time of 50.40.
 
Saint Joseph's returns to action in the new year. The Hawks will race at both the Nittany Lion Challenge at Penn State University's Ashenfelter III Indoor Track in University Park, Pa. and the Angry Birds Meet at Lehigh University's Rauch Fieldhouse in Bethlehem, Pa. on Saturday, January 11.