STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (February 9, 2024) – Sophomore Danny Jutras of the Stevens Institute of Technology men's indoor track and field team posted a new personal best in the mile to lead the Ducks Friday at the Fastrack National Invitational, contested at the Ocean Breeze complex.

Entering the race, Jutras' top collegiate mile was run in 4:27.64 at the John Terrier Classic, Jutras completed the race in 4:21.56, trimming more than six seconds off his previous best time. The mark moved the Wrentham, Massachusetts native into fifth place on the MAC leaderboard.

Elsewhere in the same race, graduate student Ronnie Melao set another new PR, completing the race in 4:18.55, moving the fifth-year runner into second place in the conference behind senior Jake Aylmer. The Ducks claim three of the top five milers in the MAC.

The Rundown

• The Ducks' distance medley relay team of Melao, sophomores Mick Barbi and Caleb Stephen and Aylmer moved into second in the conference after boasting a second-place finish Friday afternoon. The group finished the race in 10:35.09 and the squad's banked track converted time of 10:43.73 is 18 seconds behind Messiah and comfortably ahead of Hood, who is ranked third (10:49.43).
• In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Federico Yacoubian took 11th with a time of 8.70 seconds and continues to rank second in the conference.
• First-year Joshua Lim placed third in the high jump, clearing 1.80 meters. He remains fourth in the conference.

Top Performers

• Sophomore Brandon Kiefer had a busy day, posting his second-fastest 60-meter hurdles time (9.41 seconds), while also taking 11th in the pole vault, matching his collegiate best with a mark of 4.05 meters. Finally, he had a season-best long jump of 6.31 meters on his final attempt to finish ninth. He ranks ninth in the MAC in the 60 hurdles, 15th in the high jump and second in the pole vault, while leading the MAC in the heptathlon.

Around the Middle Atlantic Conference

• Albright competed at Franklin & Marshall's Blue and White Invitational. The Lions' top finishers were John Villano and Christian Jusino, who finished fourth in the high jump (1.80 meters) and the weight throw (14.85 meters), respectively.
• Eastern also competed at F&M's meet with James Ugorji (52.79 seconds) and Jahson Santana (52.80 seconds) finishing 4-5 in the 400-meter dash, to represent the Eagles' highest finisher.
• Lebanon Valley was the third of five teams competed at F&M's event, with Zachary Reed winning the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.89 seconds. The time is third-fastest in the conference to date.
• Messiah's John Condon continued his strong indoor season. The second-year runner won the 800-meter run at the Blue & White Invitational, posting a time of 1:58.27. Condon continues to be ranked third in the MAC.
• York was the final team at F&M's meet. Andrew Mott was one of three second-place finishers for the Spartans, placing second in the shot put with a mark of 15.70 meters. Mott continues to lead the conference. Jack Mahoney took second in the triple jump, touching 13.53 meters, and Aidan Robinson was second in the weight throw with a distance of 16.08 meters.
• Misericordia and Arcadia competed at Susquehanna's River Hawk Friday Night Showdown. In a field that consisted of one Division I squad and three from Division II, Misericordia's Richard Billings won the 60-meter dash in 7.01 seconds to move into first place in the MAC. Arcadia's 4x200-meter relay team won the event. In the team standings, Misericordia amassed 46 points to finish sixth out of nine teams, while Arcadia was eighth with 35.
• DeSales had three competitors at the Fastrack meet. Matt Santacoloma was the Bulldogs' top finisher, recording a time of 9:03.23 in the 3,000. 
• Stevenson split its squad into two locations: the Fastrack meet and the two-day Division III Pre-Nationals meet in Virginia Beach. Fabrice Saint Hillien was the Mustangs' top finisher in Staten Island, placing 13th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22:15 seconds. His converted time of 22.55 seconds now leads the conference. In Virgnia Beach, Nathan Williams continued his strong indoor campaign, winning the weight throw with a mark of 20.54 meters, while also placing third in the shot put with a distance of 16.22 meters. Williams is ranked second in the country and leads the MAC in the weight throw and is 18th in Division III and second in the MAC in the shot put.
• Widener was the final team at the Fastrack meet. Thomas Flear moved into first place in the MAC in the 5000 after placing ninth with a time of 14:58.93.
• Alvernia, Delaware Valley, FDU-Florham and King's will compete Saturday in the Big Apple Invitational at Ocean Breeze.
• Hood was off.

Coach's Comments

• "Having a facility like Ocean Breeze just 45 minutes from campus is a true blessing. New state-of-the-art indoor facilities are hard to come by, and competing on such a fast track is always one of the high points of our season. Our teams showed off outrageously well with some truly spectacular performances this weekend and we couldn't be happier with how our team is competing just two weeks from our Conference Championship."
• "Our men's team had some absolutely mind-boggling performances this weekend. Danny Jutras had a head-scratchingly amazing performance in the mile, running a six-second lifetime best of 4:21. Danny also ran that race with a negative split, which means that the second half of the race of faster than the first half. A seven-second negative split means Danny has more left in the tank, and he looks like an entirely different athlete right now."
• "Justin Gajewski's day was equally as unbelievable, breaking his long jump personal record by a whole 18.5 inches. That doesn't happen in long jump, and PR's of a few centimeters are hard to come by. Justin now has the laughable distinction of never having jumped 19 feet before he jumped over 20 feet."
• "Tyler Hacket made a similar jump, having a humongous PR in the 200 meters by nearly half a second. That was also Tyler's first 200-meter race in college, and he's going to be very scary once he gets a few more of those races under his belt."
• "It was a big day for our men's side and it came at the perfect time of year." – head coach John Kolibab

Up Next

• Stevens Track & Field returns to competition on Saturday, February 17 for the Army West Point Tune-Up. The event marks the close of the indoor regular season as the remaining meets after the West Point meet are championship meets. The appropriate event links will be posted to StevensDucks.com once available.

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