Lawrenceville, NJ - The Wagner College women's and men's teams both traveled to Lawrenceville, NJ for the Rider Invite at the Michael P. Bradley Track & Field Complex on Saturday, April 20.
The 2024 Rider Invite played host to 26 women's and 27 men's programs, who all competed at the one-day event.
The women's team accumulated 56 points to place fifth out of 16 scored teams, meanwhile the men's team garnered 149 points to earn second out of 19 scored teams.
On the women's side, freshman June Fernandez dominated the day by earning two first place finishes. First in the 100m dash, Fernandez finished the event in 12.40 to place alone a top 43 participants. Later in the meet, Fernandez completed the 200m dash in 25.21 to earn first among 57 finishers.
Junior Ruth-Ann Chambers in the 100m hurdles received first place with a time of 13.89. The Kingston, Jamaica native was .18 away from tying the current school record in the event. Chambers placed first out of 14 participants in the event.
Junior Janee' Patterson completed the 400m hurdles in 1:03.37. For Patterson, this is her first, first place finish in any individual event as a Seahawk.
Fernandez, Chambers, Patterson, and freshman Angel Okafor combined to earn a first place finish for Wagner in the 4x400m relay. The quartet crossed the finish with a time of 3:54.73, placing first out of 14 qualifying teams.
On the men's side, senior Jason Marchese was the lone Seahawk to bring home first in two separate events. Marchese clocked in a time of 10.77 in the 100m dash and 21.47 in the 200m dash.
In the 200m dash, Marchese placed in first a top 64 runners in the event. Marchese beat second place in the 200m dash by almost half a second.
Senior Michael Hubert acquired his first first place finish of the outdoor season in the 800m run. Hubert finished the event in 1:55.45. The Middle Village native earned first out of 57 runners.
Sophomore Dante Rodney ran a personal-best in the 400m hurdles. Rodney finished the event in 55.70 to place first out of seven athletes.
Sophomore Eskil Njerve also recorded a personal-best at the Invite. The Bergnes, Norway native cleared a height of 4.90m in the pole vault, which is the best mark by any Seahawk so far this season. Njerve finished in first out of 10 athletes in the event.
Njerve bested second-place Dalton Yeust of Monmouth by over half a foot.
The final first place finish for the Green & White came from senior Ryan Lane in the long jump. The Rochester, NH native jumped a school record 7.48m on his fifth attempt. This mark improves Lane's current record in the event by .09m.
Lane placed first atop 24 other athletes in the event.
Additionally, Okafor and freshman Magui Calvo-Jorge both competed in the 400m dash, finishing eighth and ninth respectively. Okafor crossed the finished line in 1:01.13, and Calvo-Jorge finished directly behind with a time of 1:01.14
Sophomore Julia Garcia jumped a personal-best 5.34m in the long jump. The Isla Christina, Spain completed her best mark on her second attempt and finished sixth out of 27 athletes.
Freshman Paride Iacono and sophomore Alex Taddeo finished behind Marchese in the 200m dash. Iacono placed in second while Taddeo finished in third. Iacono finished in a personal-best time of 21.86, meanwhile Taddeo's time was 21.99.
Current Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week freshman Dallas Jones placed in third place out of 57 finishers in the 100m dash. Jones crossed the finish line in 10.81, which is .09 faster than his time of 10.90 at the Bison Invite last weekend.
Junior Maxime Ricci placed second, out of 61 finishers, in the 1500m with a time of 3:54.68. Ricci ran a personal-best in the event to score eight points for the Seahawks.
Sophomore Christopher Milillo launched the hammer throw the farthest distance of any Seahawk so far this season. On his third attempt, Milillo threw the hammer 54.14m to place second out of 26 athletes in the event.
Next up, the Green & White will take part in the Penn Relays from Thursday, April 25 to Saturday, April 27 at the University of Pennsylvania.
