EDISON, NJ - The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference celebrates its 40th Anniversary throughout the 2020-21 academic year, continuing its mission to provide student-athletes the opportunity to succeed in both academics and athletics.
The 40
th Anniversary Tennis Team highlights some of the best student-athletes in MAAC history. Manhattan leads the conference with 14 men's championships and 11 women's championships, while Monmouth University has six men's titles followed by Rider University with two. On the women's side, Monmouth also has six women's championships and Rider has three.
The 2021 MAAC Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Rider University and are set to return May 8 and 9 at the Michael P. Brady Track and Field Complex in Lawrence Township, New Jersey.
RICHARD KIPLAGAT
Richard Kiplagat '06 is one of the most decorated cross country and track & field performers and student-athletes in Iona College history. He earned 10 All-American honors during his tenure including three cross country, five on the indoor track and two on the outdoor track.
Outdoors, his All-American honors came as a freshman and senior. In 2003, he showed his versatility in the middle-distance events by finishing seventh overall in the NCAA Championship 1,500-meter event. In his last career event at Iona, he finished third in the NCAA 5k event.
Kiplagat's running prowess was displayed from his first MAAC Cross Country Championship appearance in 2002 – where he ran a MAAC record and the second fastest 8k time in school history at Van Cortlandt Park – to his final race in 2006 and his 10th All-American performance as a third place finisher at the NCAA Outdoor Championship 5,000-meter event.
In between, Kiplagat became the first three-time cross country All-American at Iona, finishing 15th as a freshman, 20th as a sophomore and second as senior at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championship, the highest finish in school history. He broke the school record 8k mark at Van Cortlandt Park in his senior year debut. Kiplagat's Meet of Champions time of 23:54.4 also stands as the fourth fastest time in the historical venue's course history.
On the indoor track, Kiplagat finished fourth in the NCAA Championship 5k in 2003 and improved to third in 2004. As a junior, he tackled the 3,000-meter event and finished fourth overall. As a senior in 2006, he won two All-American honors by finishing fourth again in the 3k and second in the 5k at the University of Arkansas. Kiplagat was also the first-ever Iona harrier to run a sub-four minute mile with his time of 3:57.40 at the 2006 NYC Gotham Cup.
Kiplagat won all nine career MAAC Championship events he participated in and was a six-time IC4A Champion. Upon graduation, he held Iona records in the indoor mile, 3k and 5k and outdoor 5k events.
LEONARD KORIR
Leonard Korir's '12 stellar Iona career contained many accolades during the outdoor track & field season.
During the 2011 season, Korir finished top 10 in every event he took part in. He had three first place finishes, two of which came in postseason events. He won the 1,500-meter at the MAAC Championships, but then kicked it into high gear at the national level. Korir qualified for both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter race at the NCAA D1 Championships. In Drake, Iowa, he placed third in the 5K and captured first place in the 10K.
Korir has gone on to have a stellar running career after his time in New Rochelle. He ran in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Estádio Olímpico João Havelange. The Maroon & Gold's first American Olympian was the second Team USA runner to cross the line in the 10,000-meter event.
Korir's time of 27:35.65 was his fastest in 2016 and his second fastest 10k ever following his Iona school record 27:29.40 set on May 1, 2011 at Stanford University. Korir added another chapter to a story book 2015-16, where he enlisted in the United States Army, gained American citizenship, and then qualified and competed in the Olympic Games.
Korir was Iona's first ever NCAA Champion, accomplishing the feat twice in 2011 in the indoor 5,000-meter and outdoor 10,000-meter events and was an eight-time NCAA All-American.
BILL MARTIN
Recognized as one of the top ten intermediate-distance runners in the world during his collegiate career, Bill Martin is arguably the finest runner in the history of the Iona track & field program.
During his career which began at Boston College before transferring to Iona after his freshman year, Martin was a five-time All-American, a three-time national champion in the 1,000-yard indoor run (1977, 1978, 1979), and a member of 17 United States National Teams.
Throughout his career, Martin continousy rewrote the Iona record book. He was clocked with the nine fastest times ever at Iona in the 1,000-yard indoor run, with his best performance coming in the 1980 Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden where he ran a 2:06.8 to win the event.
Outdoors, Martin also enjoyed tremendous success. He recorded the top ten times in the 800-meter at Iona with his 1:46.63 in the 1980 NCAA Championships being his finest effort.
BILL PARISI
Bill Parisi '90 entered the Iona College Goal Club Hall of Fame as a standout javelin thrower for the Gaels' track & field program.
Parisi made three trips to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 1988, 1989, and 1990, earning All-American honors twice in 1988 and 1989.
In 1988, Parisi captured the Metropolitan and CTC javelin titles and was second at the IC4A Championship before finishing eighth at the NCAA Championship for his first All-American accolade. That same year, he went on to compete at the United States Olympic Trials.
He earned his second career All-American award with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA's in 1989. He was also an IC4A runner-up in 1989. Parisi is the school-record holder in the new rules javelin, with a throw of 236'10"
KIERAN STACK
Kieran Stack '86, '91 MBA entered the Iona College Goal Club Hall of Fame as one of the top distance runners in the history of the cross country and track & field programs.
On the track, Stack was dominant in the 3,000m steeplechase. He qualified for the NCAA Championship three times, earning All-American status twice in that event, placing fifth in 1985 and seventh in 1986. He also captured an Iona-best three IC4A titles in the steeplechase, setting a new school and Eastern Collegiate record of 8:29.60 in 1985.
Stack starred both on the cross country course and the track, helping lead the 1982 Gael harriers to the school's first ever NCAA Championship appearance, where they finished 18th. Stack captured the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference cross country title in a championship record time of 24:26.50 at Van Cortlandt Park. It was also the second fastest time run by an Iona Athlete on the storied cross country course.
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