NEW YORK, NY– After about a month off from competition, the Saint Peter's track and field programs open the 2026 calendar year on Friday, January 9, traveling to New York for TCNJ's Lions Indoor Invitational at the 168th Street Armory, with the first gun set to go off at 10 a.m.
The Peacocks are coming off two strong showings from FDU's Knights Midweek Clash and the Armory Collegiate Distance Carnival, where the programs combined for 21 podium finishes over the two meets.
At the Knights Midweek Clash,
Connor Ziolkowski secured the first gold of the night for Saint Peter's in the 500m, crossing the finish line half a second ahead of the field in 1:07.03. In the men's 300m, the Peacocks swept the top seven spots, led by freshman
Favour Owolabi, who won in 35.18 in his collegiate debut, followed by
Ajani Peck-Wekunda (36.17) and
Malique Jackson (36.24). The 4x4 squad of
Johan Aparicio, Michael Allison, Owolabi, and
Michael Odins capped the evening with a dominant win, finishing seven seconds ahead of the field in 3:25.54.
Saint Peter's carried that momentum into the Armory Collegiate Distance Carnival meet. In the field events,
Ciara Brown and
Lourdes Lawson delivered matching 2-3 finishes in both the shot put and weight throw. Brown landed marks of 11.10m and a personal best of 14.66m while rookie Lawson threw 10.93m and 12.09m. Freshman
Brian Yeager secured the lone gold of the afternoon, winning the 800m in 1:51.11. Following his debut week, Yeager was named the first Jersey Mike's MAAC Men's Track Athlete of the Week of the 2025–26 season.
LAST TIME AT THE LIONS INDOOR INVITATIONAL (Jan. 2024)
The Peacocks secured 11 podium finishes, highlighted by golds in the women's 60m hurdles and the men's 500m events by Abigail Vital ('24, 9.08) and Clardo Nestor ('24, 1:05.34).
In the 60m unseeded,
Cristian Armstrong placed second in 7.21, followed closely by
Omari Owens-Jones in third (7.22).
Amari Campbell narrowly missed the podium in the long jump by 0.01m, placing fourth at 6.96m, with Armstrong finishing fifth at 6.82m. Armstrong later added a fifth-place mark in the triple jump (13.89m), earning a spot on the 2024 NCAA DI College Indoor Rankings at #84.
Brown finished inside the top ten in both the shot put (11.62m, sixth) and weight throw (13.04m, ninth).
Johns Hopkins blazed to first in the men's 4x4 (3:24.34), earning a spot on the 2024 NCAA DIII College Indoor Rankings at #13. Saint Peter's finished just behind them (3:24.45), also 2024 NCAA DI College Indoor Rankings at #68.
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