By Matt Jones '17

Meet Results

New York, NY… The College of New Jersey men's track and field team competed at the New York Armory on Friday night in the Ramapo College Invitational. The Lions placed third out of 21 teams, a performance that was highlighted first-place finishes in the 500-meter race, 3000-meter race and 4x400 meter relay. 

In their first meet since the 2016 Division III National Cross Country Championships, sophomores Matt Saponara (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) and Quinn Wasko (Carlise, Pa / Cumberland Valley) brought their success to the track placing first and fifth overall in the 3000-meter race. Saponara won the race by over four seconds in 8:50.25 among a deep field of runners and Quinn finished in 9:03.21. 

In the 500-meter event, sophomore Noah Osterhus (Westwood, NJ / Westwood) raced to top honors with a time of 1:05.36. Following Osterhus was Thomas Livecchi (Sparta, NJ / Sparta) who came in fourth place in 1:06.41.

Nathan Osterhus (Westwood, NJ / Westwood) raced to a fourth-place finish in 51.33 in the 400-meter event and came in fourth in 22.56 in the 200-meter race. Freshman Andrew Nee (Hopatcong, NJ / Hopatcong) added points for the Lions, coming in sixth place in the 800-meter race in 2:00.46.

The 4x400 relay team for the Lions crossed the line in first in a time of 3:21.98. The team was composed of Noah Osterhus, Livecchi, Nathan Osterhus, and Zakaria Rochdi (Berkley Heights, NJ / Governor Livingston).  

Freshman Mike Zurzolo (Marlton, NJ / Cherokee) and sophomore Luke Prothero (Somerville, NJ / Somerville) opened up their indoor season in the one-mile run with times of 4:34.72 and 4:37.04 respectively.

In the 5000-meter run, sophomore Brian Mitchell (Howell, NJ / Howell) placed fifth overall in 15:57.15 in his first race since the national cross country meet. Freshman Chris Coombs (Burlington Twp., NJ / Burlington Twp.) crossed the line in 16:27.29 in the same event.

Senior Jake Lindacher (Egg Harbor Twp., NJ / Egg Harbor Twp.) returned to the track in the 60 meter hurdles, as he qualified for the finals with a time of 8.31.
In the Field for TCNJ, freshman Justin Brown  posted a long jump of 6.85 meters for seventh place honors. In the Pole Vault, Chris Guglielmo (West Nyack, NY / Clarkstown) cleared 4.25 meters for eighth place.

The Lions will next compete at Ursinus College next Saturday, in the Collegeville Classic.