Bridgewater, NJ - The Wagner College women's and men's track & field programs were awarded three weekly Northeast Conference (NEC) awards for performances at the Monmouth Invite and the Princeton Invite. Both meets took place from Friday, March 29 to Saturday, March 30.
Graduate student Dominic Palermo was named the NEC's Track Athlete of the Week for his 9:01.75 time in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Princeton Invite.Â
Out of seven runners, the Staten Island native finished in second place, behind first-place Jackson Shorten of Princeton by less than five seconds. This is Palermo's first weekly conference award of his career. Palermo's mark ranks 75th in the nation this year.
Earlier this year, Palermo was tabbed as the conference's cross country scholar athlete of the year.
In the field, sophomore Franklin Simms earned his first weekly track & field award for his performances at the Monmouth Invite.Â
Simms was named the NEC's Field Athlete of the Week for his third place finish, out of 31 throwers, in the discus with a mark of 49.52m. The Richland, NJ native also participated in the shot put, where he finished in 11th place with a distance of 12.77m.Â
Both of these marks were personal-bests for Simms. Simms' discus mark is the best in the NEC up-to-this-point. Meanwhile, his shot put mark is seventh-best in the conference.
On the women's side, freshman June Fernandez received her second consecutive NEC Rookie of the Week. In the 100m dash, Fernandez finished third, out of 41 finishers, with a time of 12.26 at the Monmouth Invite.
Fernandez was also a part of the 4x100m relay quartet who combined to complete the event in 47.02, which is a new program record for Wagner College.Â
Fernandez obtained second place in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:57.29, falling behind second-place Loyola-Maryland in the event by .24.
During the indoor season, Fernandez earned four Rookie of the Week honors and one Track Athlete of the Week honor.
Additionally, sophomore Dario Sina de la Fuente, sophomore Gia Comerford, and junior Ruth-Ann Chambers were named as NEC Prime Performers for their showings at the Monmouth Invite and Princeton Invite.
Next up, the Green & White will head to Williamsburg, VA for the Colonial Relays from Friday, April 5 to Saturday, April 6.
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