BOSTON, Mass., January 27, 2019 – The Monroe College men's indoor track and field team continued a highly successful start to the 2019 season on Saturday, as more Mustangs punched their tickets to the 2019 NJCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships with a number of qualifying performances at the John Thomas Terrier Classic, hosted by Boston University.
 
Giano Roberts opened the day with a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash, clocking in at 7.01 seconds to win the race. Lloyd McCurdy took fourth in the event at 7.14, while Bervensky Pierre placed 11th with a time of 7.28. Pierre came back shortly after in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 22.51.
 
Three Mustangs competed in the 400-meter dash. Kurt Modeste was the first Mustang to cross the line, taking sixth place at 48.60 to earn a qualifying time for the NJCAA Indoor Championships. Phillip Marcelle followed in 16th place with another qualifying time of 48.95. Christopher Spellman set a new personal best time in the race with a time of 51.71.
 
Edwin Rosario competed in the 500-meter dash for the Mustangs, finishing in 1:10.77 in her first collegiate competition of the season.
 
Four Mustangs picked up qualifying times in the 800-meter run on Saturday. Phelani Maduwa was the first Monroe competitor to finish, clocking in at 1:53.87. Ka'Jon Parris was not far behind at 1:55.64, while Keron Charles came in right after with a time of 1:55.80. Thapelo Makofane rounded out the impressive group with a time of 1:56.49. Shaquille Barzey made his season debut in the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:04.96.
 
The same five Mustangs competed in the 1,000-meter run shortly after. Makofane (2:32.05) and Maduwa (2:33.54) both earned NJCAA qualifying times in the event. Charles finished in 2:37.10, Parris clocked in at 2:40.04, and Barzey came in at 2:44.47.
 
Bonginkosi Maseko ran his first mile of the season, finishing in 4:28.82 and narrowly missing the qualifying standard. He ran the 5,000-meter run shortly after, earning a time of 16:14.49.
 
Roberts came back later to compete in the 60-meter hurdles. He picked up a time of 8.14 seconds in the preliminaries, the second-fastest time in that round, but had a false start in the finals. Roberts set the Monroe College record in the event twice over earlier in the season.
 
The 4x400 relay team of Marcelle, Modeste, Spellman and Rosario finished in 3:21.25, which qualifies them for the NJCAA Indoor Championships in the event.
 
The 4x800 relay foursome of Charles, Parris, Makofane and Maduwa kicked it into high gear, clocking in at 7:51.64 to qualify for nationals and set a new program record in the relay event.
 
McCurdy picked up third place in the triple jump event on Saturday. He finished with a best jump of 15.61 meters to earn himself a qualifying distance for the NJCAA Championships.
 
Chukwusom Enekwechi also earned a third-place finish in the shot put event. He threw a career-best distance of 16.46 meters to improve his national ranking in the event.
 
The Mustangs will compete next weekend when the team is split up for two different meets. Some of the Mustangs will run in the Fastrack National Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y. on Friday, Feb. 8, while others will participate in the David Hemery Valentine Invite, hosted once again by Boston University, on Saturday, Feb. 9.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 27 teams competing across nine sports. There are 18 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Monroe NJCAA Div. I Cross County National Championships Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus as of the fall of 2017, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe College Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs).