Iona, Manhattan, Monmouth, & Saint Peter's Represent MAAC at NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships
MAAC Sports
Edison, N.J. – Four MAAC schools will represent the conference at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Track and Field championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 14th and 15th. The five individuals who qualified for the championships have marked the largest school representation of any sport from the conference at an NCAA championship in 2014. Iona College has two athletes that have qualified for the championships with both their men’s and women’s teams being represented.
Kate Avery of Iona College was named the MAAC Women’s Track Most Outstanding Performer at the 2014 MAAC indoor track and field championships. Avery qualified for the women’s 3000 meter with a seed time of 8:56.20 and ranks 2nd in the country among qualifiers. Avery has also been named the MAAC Women’s Most Outstanding Performer in Cross country this year, and set a new MAAC championship record in the one mile with a time of 4:38.16.
Iona’s Matt Gillespie represents the men’s team and has qualified for two seperate events. Gillespie ranks in the top ten in both of his events, qualifying for the men’s one mile with a seed time 3:58.48. He also qualified for the 3000 meter with a seed time of 7:52.24. Gillespie is the only MAAC representative to qualify for two events in the NCAA championship this year.
Manhattan’s Mohamed Koita will represent the Jaspers in the high jump along with another MAAC student athlete, Isaiah Harris from Saint Peter’s University. Koita, a former basketball standout, qualified for the NCAA championships with a seed mark of 2.20 meters and is Manhattan’s first qualifier to the indoor track and field championship since the 2009 season. Koita ranks 13th across the country among qualifiers, while Harris ranks 12th with a seed mark of 2.21 meters, which set a MAAC championship record in 2014. Harris was named the MAAC Men’s Field Most Outstanding Performer at the MAAC championships. The men’s long jump is the only event in which two MAAC athletes will be competing against each other.
Mariah Toussaint has qualified for the Women’s Long Jump with a seed mark of 6.30 meters. The Monmouth Hawk set two MAAC championship records in the 200 meter with a time of 24.30 and the long jump with a 6.18 mark. Toussaint helped lead the Hawks to the 2014 MAAC indoor track and field conference title.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
The MAAC, headquartered in Edison, N.J., consists of 11 member institutions in 2013: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter's University and Siena College. For more on the conference please visit, www.maacsports.com. Follow the MAAC on Facebook and Twitter: @MAACSports. Follow MAAC Indoor Track & Field on Twitter using the hashtag #MAACTF.
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