Staten Island, NY - The Wagner College men's indoor track & field team secured the program's second straight Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship on Monday afternoon, after scoring 93.5 points on day two in finishing atop of the ten-team field with a final score of 129.5.
The Seahawks entered the final day two points behind Fairleigh Dickinson, who finished second overall with 108 points. LIU rounded out the top-three with 103 points.
Mount St. Mary's (100.5), Saint Francis U (71), Bryant (52), Central Connecticut (31), Sacred Heart (30), Merrimack (29), and St. Francis Brooklyn (9) completed the two-day championship event, which was held at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island.
Wagner became the first team to repeat as indoor champions since LIU won four straight in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
The 4x400m relay team of Josiah Cadet, William Cuthbertson, Cyril Babcanec, and Thomas Corel set a new conference meet and program record in the event, clocking in at 3:14.35.
The quartet surpassed the previous mark, set by Babacanec, Corel, Jason Marchese, and Joshua Cadet at the Fastrack Season Opener (Dec. 3, 2021).
Individually, Cuthbertson and Corel went on to take first-place honors in the mile and the 500m.
Cuthbertson clocked in with a time of 4:15.10 while also finishing second in the 800m with a time of 1:52.97.
Corel lowered his time and rewrote his record, posting an IC4AA time of 1:03.03 to bring home the gold in the event.
Joshua Cadet placed third in the 400m dash, finishing with a time of 48.58 while placing fourth in the 200m with a new school record of 21.73.
The time edges our former Seahawk, Jordan Davenport, who notched a time of 21.86 back on Jan. 27, 2017, at the John Thomas Terrier Invitational.
In the men's 3000m finals, Dominic Palermo turned in an IC4A qualifying time of 8:26.36 to place second while newcomer Jean Uminski was third at 8:28.41.
In all, the Seahawks occupied five spots among the top ten, as Johnny Sokoll (8:31.05), finished fourth followed by Anthony Bentivegna (8:32.57) and Robert Guidicipietro (8:34.74).
Teammate Yannik Gerland was among the top-15 finishers, crossing the finish line in 8:50.23.
For an encore, Sokoll, Uminski finished second and third in the 5000m with times of 14:45.76 and 14:45.98, respectively.
Bentivegna (14:52.00) was next in fourth while Guidicipietro was among the top-15 with a time of 15:19.34.
Other notable performances from the second day of competition:
- Palermo and Michael Hubert place among the top ten in the mile, with Palermo posting a finals time of 4:16.74 while Hubert checked in at 4:20.91.
- Babcanec scored two points for the Seahawks in finishing seventh overall in the 400m dash with a time of 49.35.
- Jason Marchese rounded out the field of eight in the 500m with a time of 2:08.17.
- Luke Cunningham and Mahmoud Abdalla went sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 800m, with Cunningham finishing at 1:53.67 while Abdalla was close behind at 1:55.85.
- The DMR of Hubert, Abdalla, Andreas Lange, and Palermo placed fourth overall with a time of 10:16.34.
- Ryan Lane tied for fourth in the pole vault, clearing 4.40m.
- Corey Durden finished sixth overall in the shot put with a throw of 14.97m.
The next scheduled indoor meet for the Seahawks is the Fastrack Last Chance, which will be contested on Saturday, February 26.
Those members of the team that qualified gear up for the 2022 IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will run from March 4 through March 6 at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center.
