CHESTER, Pa. (May 3, 2024) – Graduate student Ronnie Melao and sophomore Brandon Kiefer each won conference championships to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's outdoor track and field team through two days of competition at the 2024 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships. This year's iteration is being hosted by Widener University at the George A. Hansell Track and Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium.

Melao captured his first outdoor conference championship by winning the steeplechase. The Westfield, New Jersey native finished the race in 9:28.94. The performance set a new personal best for Melao and snapped Lebanon Valley's Noah Griffin's three-year run of first-place finishes in the race. Griffin finished seventh. Melao's performance added 10 points to Stevens' team total.

Kiefer, meanwhile, topped the field in the decathlon, amassing a personal-best 6,024 points. In addition to adding 10 points to the Ducks' total, Kiefer's two-day total is ranked 28th in the country. On his way to the conference championship, Kiefer set new personal bests in the 100-meter dash (11.48 seconds), the long jump (6.42 meters), the shot put (11.83 meters), the 400-meter dash (51.14 seconds), the 110-meter hurdles (17.60 seconds) and the javelin (49.72 meters), while also matching his personal best in the high jump (1.76 meters).

As a team, the Ducks have accumulated 28 points through two days of competition to sit in fourth place out of the 16 competing teams. Lebanon Valley leads the field with 52 points, while Widener holds on to second place with 37 points. DeSales (35) resides in third place, while York sits right behind Stevens with 27.6 points to round out the top-five.

In addition to the conference champions crowned, preliminary races were held in seven events. Heading into Saturday's finals, Stevens will hold the fourth seed in the 4x100-meter relay (first-years Tyler Hackett and George Maroun/sophomores Connor Robinson and Kyle Savino) with a time of 42.78 seconds, the fourth seed in the 400-meter dash (Savino) with a time of 48.66 seconds and the third seed in the 800 (sophomore Danny Jutras) with a time of 1:53.80.

Top Performers

• In just his second collegiate decathlon, junior Xavier McWilliams set a PR with 5,011 points to finish eighth and add a point to the team total.
• Senior Colin Keady finished seventh in the hammer throw with a mark of 45.96 meters on his second attempt to also set a new personal best.
• The Ducks' 4x800-meter relay team of first-year Ryan Paradine, graduate student Kajetan Leitner, senior Jake Aylmer and Jutras finished fourth with a time of 7:48.67.

Around the Middle Atlantic Conference

• Stevenson's Nathan Williams won the hammer with a mark of 61.29 meters on his fifth attempt.
• Widener's Thomas Flear won the 10k in 31:02.33.
• DeSales stood atop the podium in the 4x800-meter relay, winning the race in 7:42.11.
• High jumper Teone Sherrod of King's captured gold in the high jump with a height of 1.96 meters.
• DeSales' Xavier Phoenix won his fourth straight conference championship in the long jump, touching 6.96 meters.
• York's Andrew Mott won the discus in with a mark of 52.43 meters.

Up Next

• The final day of competition kicks off at noon tomorrow. A total of 14 conference champions will be crowned. Links for live stats and video are posted to StevensDucks.com.

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