The Iona College men's indoor track squad opened up its 2007 campaign at the New York University Gotham Cup at the Armory Track and Field Center this weekend. The competition featured some well-known track & field programs such as Princeton, Texas, and Villanova.
The evening was highlighted by two exciting wins for the Gaels. First was junior Abraham Ng'etich's fantastic finish in the seeded mile event. Ng'etich finished with a time 4:09.68 an automatic IC4A qualifying mark. The opening 800 meters of just 2:09 saw most of the field bunched closely together with Ng'etich and a trio from Texas in the front half of the field. The excitement started with two laps remaining as Ng'etich went to the front to push the tempo, his last 400 meters of 56.7 sealed the win by nearly two seconds. For his performance, Ng'etich was named MAAC Indoor Track Performer of the Week.
Iona's second big victory came in the men's distance medley relay. Senior Tim Bayley led off the 1200-meter leg and gave the Gaels a huge lead their closest competition, Texas and Princeton, with his 2:58 split. On the 400-meter leg, sophomore Dan Wallace-Periac's 52.8 and senior Phil Burkart's 1:55.2 on the 800-meter leg, maintained the sizeable cushion as the relay from Texas was slowly creeping back into contention. On the anchor leg, the baton was placed in the confident hands of sophomore Mohamed Khadraoui for longest stretch, the 1600-meter. After a few laps, the athlete from Texas had worked his way up through the field and was now stride for stride with Khadraoui. The anticipation of a spectacular finish brought the Amory spectators to their feet to watch the dual unfold. The decisive push was made over the last lap as Khadraoui brought the Maroon & Gold home in 4:16 and relay time of 10:02.44 (another IC4A Qualifier) over Texas's 10:02.86.
The Gaels return to action at the Armory in two weeks when they compete at the Metropolitan Championships on Jan. 26. Iona will also take part in the BU Terrier Classic in Boston, MA the following day.
Other notables: Philip Burkart (Sr.), 500-m, 1:06.81; Noel Bateman (Fr.), unseeded mile, 4:16.74, first place finish; Josh Hibbs (Fr.), mile, 4:23.39; Aaron Snyder (Jr.), 1000-m, 2:32.59; Tim Leonard (Fr.), 1000-m, 2:35.39; Chase Pizzonia (Jr.), 3000-m, 8:27.19; ?B' Distance Medley Relay, 10:30.02 (Noel Bateman (Fr.), 1200m, 3:12; Tim Leonard (Fr.), 400m, 57.2; Josh Hibbs (Fr.), 800m, 2:03; Mathew Kiplagat (Jr.), 1600m, 4:17).
