Top Moments: Track & Field Shines at MAAC Championships

Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Saint Peter’s University Athletics returned to the playing surface this past academic year and put together a series of incredible moments that instilled great pride.

To honor the incredible student-athletes and all they accomplished in 2020-21, in the month of July, the athletics department will look back at some of the most memorable moments every Tuesday and Friday.

Setting The Stage

Big things were coming for the Saint Peter's University track & field programs.

After opening eyes at the 2020 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Saint Peter's University men's and women's track & field teams were ready to open some eyes. Unfortunately, they – like the rest of the country – were forced to wait about a year until they able to build off that momentum. After the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the cancelation of the 2020 outdoor season, all that could be done was to train and wait patiently for a chance to return to action and show the rest of the MAAC that those results from the previous winter were very much a sign of things to come. 

As the calendar rolled to 2021 and despite the unfortunate cancelation of the indoor championships, hope was on the horizon as winter turned to spring. It started with a brief cross country season that served as the unofficial start of the campaign, and finally – after more than a year away – the teams returned to action with a roughly six-week outdoor schedule that would serve as a build-up for the main event of the season: the 2021 MAAC Outdoor Championships in early May.

Saint Peter's would put together a schedule that featured six meets during the regular season, and four of those were held at nearby Lincoln Park in Jersey City. After opening the season at the Davis Relays, both sides won the first day of the Peacock Outdoor Invitational. Two days later, the team went to New York's Icahn Stadium for the Mets where several Peacocks took individual victories and set personal records. The following week, the team returned to Lincoln Park for the second day of the Peacock Invitational before competing at the St. John's Invitational on April 16. Finally, the regular season concluded at the Jersey Relays from April 22-23, and all that was left was the preparations for the MAAC Championships, where several Peacocks were looking to not only to make some noise, but take home some serious hardware.

Meet The Peacocks

• Sophomore Vernetta Gosier, who was the MAAC Female Track Rookie of the Meet back during the 2020 indoor season when she burst onto the scene by winning the 60-meter dash and placing third in the 200m, brought the second-fastest 100m time to date into the weekend (12.43); she also contributed in relays as well, helping the team to wins in the 4x100 twice, and the 4x200. 
• In the field events, Jabari Higgs-Salaam – who was the 2020 Men's Field Rookie of the Meet at the indoor championships – was a perfect 3-for-3 in the long jump entering the championships. He had set a new PR for himself on the first day of the Peacock Invite with a distance of 7.20 meters. 
• Back on the women's side, sophomore Lorretta Owoh was enjoying a storybook season heading into the MAAC Championships. She was undefeated in her field events up until that point, with her finest performance came during the Jersey Relays, where she set PR's in both the long (5.48 meters) and triple jump (11.25 meters),and was also runner-up in both the preliminaries and finals of the 100-meter dash. 
• Sophomore Jayaire King won the 400 hurdles twice entering the weekend, and classmate Jarrett Gentles was helped the Peacocks earn wins in the 4x400 at the Davis Relays and the Metropolitan Championships from April 9-10. Gentles also added a win in the 400 hurdles at the Mets and was runner-up in the 200 meters at the second Peacock Invitational. 
• Freshman Abigail Vital had been enjoying a strong first year as a Peacock entering the weekend, playing a big role in relay races as she helped the team win the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 on numerous occasions. She also won the 100 hurdles at the second day of the Peacock Invitational and at the Mets.
• Graduate student Brandon Campbell helped the team win the 4x100 at the Davis Relays and the 4x200 at the Jersey Relays and owned the sixth-best time in the MAAC in the 100 meters.
• Freshman Delano Gooden also played a pivotal role in the relays, contributing to the team win in the 4x100 at the Davis Relays, and a runner-up finish in the same event at the first Peacock Invite and Metropolitan Championships. He also helped the team win the 4x200 at the Jersey Relays and held the eighth-best time in the 100 meters at 11.14 seconds.
• Redshirt sophomore Rayshawn Johnson had been in the midst of a big season in the 110 hurdles. He won the event at the Mets in 16.03 seconds and set a PR for himself in the event at the second Peacock Invite with a time of 15.08.
• Freshman Ibrahim Seidou-Bakari owned the seventh-best distance in the hammer throw with a distance of 46.80 meters; on the women's side, freshman Alexus Smith helped the team to relay wins in the 4x200 at the Davis Relays and the 4x400 at the second Peacock Invitational. 

HIGGS-SALAAM HIGHLIGHTS DAY 1

• It turned out to be a day of fulfillment for Jabari Higgs-Salaam and the rest of the team after a solid opening day at the MAAC Championships. Higgs-Salaam, who earned MAAC Field Rookie of the Meet honors at the 2020 Indoor Championships, rose to the occasion again by winning the long jump event in an impressive 7.46 meters, two-hundredths of a meter better than second-place. His performance was one of several highlights for the Peacocks on Day 1 of the Outdoor Championships.
   

Top Performances: Men

• Higgs-Salaam's 7.46-meter victory in the long jump was also a personal record for himself. He smashed his previous mark of 7.20 meters, which he had attained at the first day of the Peacock Invitational on April 7. 
• Freshman Delano Gooden earned a top-five finish in the 100-meter preliminary dash with a PR time of 11.04 seconds. He also took a top-10 finish in a field of over 20 competitors in the 200-meter preliminaries with a time of 22.38 seconds, which was also a personal best; he qualified for the finals in both events.
• In the preliminaries of the 110 hurdles, redshirt sophomore Rayshawn Johnson took a top-10 placement by clocking in at 15.39 seconds, qualifying for the finals.
• Sophomores Jayaire King and Jarrett Gentles went back-to-back in the 400-hurdle prelims, earning themselves top-10 finishes and qualifications for the finals. 
• In a field of over 30 competitors, sophomore Clardo Nestor came in the top-15 in the 800 prelims at 1:56.09, just breaking his PR that he had set for himself at the Indoor Championships last year.
• Finally, sophomore Dylan Powell placed in the top-10 in the hammer throw with a distance of 46.03 meters, taking seventh-place in scoring points for the men's team.

Top Performances: Women

• Sophomore Vernetta Gosier was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash preliminaries and also placed fourth in the 100-meter prelims, qualifying for the finals of both events.
• Freshman Alexus Smith took a top-10 finish in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles and qualified for the finals, while classmate Abigail Vital placed in the top-five in the 400-hurdle prelims to also qualify for the finals of that event.
• Sophomore Shelby Piccinic finished in the top-10 in the 3,000 steeplechase at 11:54.10, cutting her previous best in the event by more than 20 seconds while setting a school record. She finished in sixth place.
• In a field of nearly 30 competitors, Lorretta Owoh scored for the team by taking fourth place in the long jump with a distance of 5.57 meters, breaking her previous mark of 5.48 meters that she had set for herself at the Jersey Relays.

ONTO DAY 2…

HERE COMES THE HARDWARE

TREMENDOUS TEAM FINISHES

SUMMING IT ALL UP

Sophomores Lorretta Owoh and Vernetta Gosier both saw their incredible outdoor campaigns culminate with major recognition after Day 2 of the MAAC Outdoor Championships, as Saint Peter's wrapped up the two-day event with fine showings throughout the roster.

Owoh, who went undefeated in field events during the regular season, came out on top in the triple jump with a distance of 11.56 meters, garnering MAAC Women's Field Rookie of the Meet honors in the process. Gosier won the 100-meter dash in equally impressive fashion, winning in 12.21 seconds, nearly a tenth of a second faster than the next-closest competitor. Owoh and Gosier's victories were just some of the highlights that the Peacocks enjoyed on Sunday. Overall, the men's team would finish the championship in fourth place while the women's team took sixth.

Top Performances: Women

• Owoh's 11.56-meter triple jump is also a personal record and the second-best mark in the conference. With the win, Owoh remained perfect in the triple jump this outdoor season with four wins in as many tries.
• Gosier's mark in the 100-meter dash was a new PR for her and the top time in the MAAC this year. Gosier was also runner-up in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.41 seconds.
• The relay races were also a spot where the Peacocks thrived on Day 2. The combination of freshmen Jewel Dale and Abigail Vital and sophomores Alexis Peterson and Deja Bowen came in the top-five in the 4x100-meter relay event in 49.26 seconds.
• Vital also came through for the team when she scored in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:08.48, good for sixth place.
• Vital and Dale also joined forces with freshman Alexus Smith and sophomore Tola Osipitan to take another top-five finish in the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet clocked in at 4:04.13, the fourth-best time in the conference this year.
• Smith also scored for the team in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.71 seconds.

Top Performances: Men

• The team of freshman Devon Bembridge, sophomores Clardo Nestor and Michael Conover, and junior Petrus Benjamin, was runner-up in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:19.66, which was the third-best time in the MAAC this season.
• Sophomores Jayaire King and Jarrett Gentles both came in the top-five in the 400 hurdles. King came in at 54.01 seconds and Gentles crossed in 54.63. King's time was a new PR for himself and third best in the conference.
• Freshman Delano Gooden took a third-place finish in the 100-meter finals with a PR time of 10.93 seconds. Gooden also scored in the 200 meters with a time of 22.54 seconds.
• Sophomore Rayshawn Johnson finished in the top-five in the 110-hurdle finals at 15.32 seconds.
• The MAAC Long Jump Champion, sophomore Jabari Higgs-Salaam, also scored in the triple jump with a seventh-place finish of 13.62 meters.

Stay tuned for future Top Moments of 2020-21 in the weeks ahead!

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