Marywood Men's Track & Field Team Repeats as Atlantic East Champions

Marywood University won 16 individual and relay events to repeat as Atlantic East Conference Men's Track and Field champions on Saturday. The Pacers repeated their 2019 performance with a resounding 301 points — doubling the combined total of the rest of the conference's participants.

First-year program Marymount University finished second with 127 points. Gwynedd Mercy University, Immaculata University, Wesley College and Neumann University rounded out the competition.

Battling weather conditions and a condensed one-day schedule, the Pacers posted the second conference title in the program's short history. Marywood set one school record at the meet.

Senior David Haines (North Pocono) won four individual events. Haines won the 800 in 2:04.18. He earned a victory in the 1500 in 4:28.98. Haines crossed first in the 5K at 16:49.20, and the Madison Twp. native finished the 10K in 34:06.35.

In the field events, fellow senior Christian Scotti (Tunkhannock) came away with three individual first-place finishes. He won the pole vault with a throw of 7 feet, 4 1/2 inches (2.25m). Scotti earned the top spot in the shot put with a heave of 36 feet, 1 1/4 inches (11m). His javelin throw went 143 feet, 9 inches (43.81m) to finish on top of the rest of the conference. He was also second in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 8 3/4 inches (1.75m). Scotti set a PR in the 110 hurdles, taking third place and posting the fourth-fastest Marywood time of 16.83 seconds.

Marywood's lone school record came in the 4x100. The Pacers' relay of Jefferson Fontaine, Ryan Benedict, George Thompson, and Noah Schock slashed their previous best — set in late April — by a half-second with a 43.54-second performance. The foursome also took first place in the 4x400 with a time of 3:30.54.

George Thompson (Montrose) hurdled his way to a pair of first-place individual finishes. He was the fastest in the 110 hurdles at 16.46. Thompson finished 35-hundredths of a second ahead of Benedict in the 400 hurdles victory, finishing with times of 59.09 and 59.44, respectively.

Jefferson Fontaine (Wyandanch, N.Y.) proclaimed his role as king of the sprints. He clocked in at 11.27 seconds for a 100 dash title. Fontaine crossed the finish in 22.88 seconds to take the 200 dash.

Trailing him in both races was Noah Schock (Coopersburg, Pa.) with personal-record runs that made their way to the school record books. Shock ran a 11.44-second 100 dash that was the fifth-best at Marywood. His 23.25 mark in the 200 dash counted as the fourth best performance in a Marywood kit. Shock won the 400 with a time of 51.7 seconds.

Caleb Bakalyar (Stewartstown, Pa.) earned his first Atlantic East gold medal by winning the 3,000 steeplechase. Bakalyar registered a 11:02.85 to win the event. He was second place in the 5K at 16:54.02.

Back at the field, Ryan Mathews (Annville, Pa.) garnered his first Atlantic East title with the top throw in the hammer. He claimed first with a distance of 103 feet, 1 inches (31.43m). Mathews took runner-up in both the shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 1 1/4 inches (10.7m) and the discus throw of 90 feet, 1 inch (27.46m).