STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Three middle distance Hawks met IC4A qualification in their open events and freshman Michael Szwed pulled in a pair of victories at the Fastrack Last Chance Invitational, held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Friday evening. The meet served as one final regular-season opportunity to qualify for the upcoming IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships in early March.
Sophomore Matthew Scarpill met IC4A qualification in the mile with a collegiate-best time of 4:13.72, which was good for fourth in a field of 32 milers. Scarpill began the season in 4:27.15 form before bringing that down to 4:18.92 just a week later at the Penn State National Invitational in late January.
Friday's performance is promising for the returning 2018 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field All-Rookie Team mile selection after turning in the top A-10 mile time by a first-year runner last indoor season.
Additionally, the sophomore's time was the top among all collegiate runners as he was up against some heavy-level competition.
"Matt did a great job of controlling his race as the pace up front was geared towards a couple of professionals trying to break four minutes," said head coach Mike Glavin following the meet. "He engaged with another of the many club runners, and the result was not only an IC4A qualifier but also a lifetime best in the event. He really is coming along, and we're looking forward to seeing how well he can race in Fairfax for A-10s and in Boston for IC4As."
A solid group of five Hawks attempted 1000m qualification for IC4As, and the junior pair of Zach Michon (2:27.06 PR) and John Walker (2:27.17 PR) reached that goal, with fourth- and fifth-place finishes, respectively, in the field of 17.
With the standard set at 2:28.50, redshirt freshman George Steinhoff (2:29.04) and senior Jack Daly (2:29.23 PR, by 8.36 seconds) were right on the cusp of making it four.
Of note, Michon raced out of the first section as the only attached, collegiate athlete among unattached and club runners. Walker won the second section, followed by Steinhoff and Daly for the SJU 1-2-3.
In the first 500m race of his collegiate career, rookie Szwed won the race in 1:05.57, claiming the title in a field of nine for his first collegiate open victory.
Szwed also anchored the all-freshman 4x400m relay that won the event in a field of nine squads. Michael Welde, Javier Linares, Kris Edobi, and Szwed crossed in an IC4A-qualifying time of 3:19.26, marking SJU's third-fastest 4x4 of the season.
The group defeated Graybee Track Club by nearly two entire seconds.
Graduate student captain Barren McCoy followed Szwed in second (1:05.88) in his first 500m race of the season while Linares took third (1:06.17 PR) for the 1-2-3 Hawk sweep.
Welde placed third in the 400m field of 33 with a time of 49.44 while Edobi ran 50.73, good for eighth.
Junior captain David Bryant placed 11th in the 60m finals field of 14, checking in with a collegiate-best time of 7.12. Bryant had finished second in his five-member preliminaries heat with a time of 7.15, good for 12th overall in the initial field of 38.
Bryant followed up with a fifth-place showing in the 200m field of 27, crossing in 22.45.
Junior Colin Parker led a quartet of Hawks in the 800m, placing 10th in a field of 41 in a season-best time of 1:58.44. Classmate Josh Clark ran a nice 1:58.50 for 11th.
The Hawks will head to the 2019 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships next weekend, set for Saturday, February 23 through Sunday, February 24 at George Mason University's Field House in Fairfax, Va. A complete meet preview with line-ups included will be made available next week at SJUHawks.com.
Following A-10s will be the 2019 IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships, slated for Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3 at Boston University's Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Mass., while the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will run from Friday, March 8 through Sunday, March 9 at Birmingham CrossPlex, in Birmingham, Ala.
