Double titles for Rutgers Track & Field

Over the last few years, both Rutgers’ men’s and women’s track & field squads have had individual champions. And personal bests have been racked up as well. But the ultimate result - a team title - isn’t something that has been there.

Saturday, at the Bauer Track & Field Hockey Complex, it came together as both teams took home their respective team championship in the 2017 Metropolitan Outdoor Championships.

The men outdistanced the 12-team field with a ten-point win over second place Manhattan. “It was a great team win as we scored a lot of points in many events as well as broke two school records,” said head coach Mike Mulqueen. “It’s always good to win the Mets, which is 70, 80 years old. It was a good send off for the seniors as well.”

During the meet, six seniors – Emeka Eze, Thomas Carr, Brendan Jaeger, Kyle Holder, Sean McEvoy and Nick Price – were honored for their contributions to the program.

With Izaiah Brown as the anchor, Rutgers cruised to a win in the 4x400m relay to help the Scarlet Knights claim the title. Holder, Jaeger and sophomore Edward Zalek finished with a time of 3:17.17 in the event. In addition, Brown won both the 400m (47.33) and 200m (21.41) titles.

In the high jump, freshman Perry Christie finished first with a PR of 2.02m (6’ 7.50”). Freshman Tobi Tella placed second in the long jump with his mark of 7.51m (24’ 7.75”).

On the women’s side, RU had a substantial lead over second place, and defending Met Champion, St. John’s. The Knights picked up nine first and another six second place finishes in the two-day event.

Junior Bria Saunders led the Scarlet with three championships: she recorded a season-best 11.80 to win the 100m, put in a top time of 11.80 in the 200m and anchored the 4x100m relay team to first place.

Phyllis Gordon won two titles in the 400m run and with the 4x100m relay. Sarah Robbie also had a pair of Met titles placing first in the 800m with the 4x800m relay team. Fifth-year senior Paige Senatore captured the sixth Metropolitan title of her career with the top finish in the 5000m in a time of 17:39.49.

The rest of the winning 4x100m relay team consisted of Nabiya Garrett, Imani Beauliere, Gordon and Saunders while the 4x800m relay winners included Brianna Haspel, Kaitlyn Bedard, Jenna Sobieski and Robbie.

Complete meet results can be found here.

Both the men and women head to Atlanta this weekend for the Georgia Tech Invitational.