Dove, Samuels, Gebhard and Persson Named MAAC Outdoor Track and Field Performers of the Week
MAAC Sports
EDISON, NJ – In the fifth week of Outdoor Track and Field competition, we had Manhattan Jaspers winning three of the four weekly awards and the Quinnipiac Bobcats winning the other final weekly award. John Dove of Manhattan is the Men’s Track Performer of the Week, while Manhattans Bobby Gebherd win’s his second consecutive Men’s Field Performer of the Week. Shameal Samuels of Quinnipiac is the Women’s Track Performer of the Week and Ellinor Persson of Manhattan won her first career Outdoor Track and Field Weekly Award being named the Women’s Field Performer of the Week.
John Dove won the 1500 meters at the Princeton Outdoor Invitational on Saturday. He qualified for the IC4A Championships in the event, posting a time of 3:56.48 in a field of athletes that included competitors from Princeton, Monmouth, Binghamton and Rutgers.
Shameal Samuels, a 2015 NCAA Regional participant in the 400m, broke two program records with her two results on Saturday at the Jack Rose Track on the campus of Long Beach State. In her first outing of the day, Samuels impressed with her third place finish out of 85 sprinters in her signature 400m event as she clocked in at a program record 53.59 seconds. Samuels' personal-best in the 400m bested her own previous program record of 53.72 seconds set in the 2015 New England Championships. Later in the day, Samuels again came up with another third place finish, this time in the 200m as she crossed the line in 24.17 seconds to take the top five result out of 86 other sprinters. Racing in a talented field with competitors from schools ranging all across the nation, Samuels set her second program record as she bested her own previous personal-best of 24.24 seconds which she set at the 2015 Valentine Invitational.
Bobby Gebhard took first in the triple jump at the Princeton Outdoor Invitational on Saturday, getting out to a distance of 15.17 meters (49 feet, 9¼ inches). With that effort, he moved into 37th place on the NCAA East regional leaderboard. Gebhard also ran the 110 meter hurdles on Saturday, qualifying for the final with a time of 15.73 seconds in the preliminaries.
Ellinor Persson finished first in the long jump with a personal-best effort of 5.82 meters (19 feet, 1¼ inches) at the Princeton Outdoor Invitational on Saturday. She qualified for the ECAC Championships with that performance. Persson also posted a time of 14.83 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles.
The 2016 MAAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held May 7-8 at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ.