NEW YORK, NY - The Iona University men's indoor track & field team earned a third place finish at the 2023 MAAC Championships at the Armory Track and Field Center. After a gold and two silver medals the first night, the Gaels picked up four additional golds, two silvers and a bronze on Sunday. Senior Jamie Dee was named Most Outstanding Track performer after a double gold performance in the 5k and 4x800 relay and sophomore Matt Rankin was named Newcomer of the Meet with a gold in the DMR last night and the 3k event tonight.

200-METER DASH

With Dee and Rankin headlining the major awards, Iona's most impressive performance may have come from junior Jadyn Tabois who won gold in the 200-meter event in MAAC-record time. A night after setting a school mark of 21.50, he shaved nearly a half second off the time with a 21.02, good for exactly a half second victory over Rider's Artie Burgess. He repeated as MAAC Champion after capturing the event last season.

3,000-METER RUN

Rankin earned his second gold medal of the championship with a first place performance in the 3,000-meter run. His time of 8:02.18 was nearly two seconds ahead of junior teammate and silver medalist Mael Gouyette and a near three-second personal best. Gouyette was second in 8:04.14, running in just his second event of the winter indoor season. He edged Siena's Brandon Olden at the line in just under a quarter of a second. It was Goyette's third indoor medal following a gold in the DMR last year and a silver in the 800. Senior Graham Baird claimed fourth place (8:13.20) as the Gaels captured three of the top four spots in the event. Junior Campbell Lee was 16th in 8:52.91.

MILE RUN

Sophomore Damien Dilcher was Iona's first gold medalist of the day, opening the evening with a 4:13.07 in the mile. He held serve from his top preliminary time and won the final over Canisius' Andrew Perreault by almost two seconds. It was Dilcher's second MAAC indoor medal as he improved on a bronze finish in 2002. Junior Jonathan DeSouza earned seventh place points with his time of 4:18.21.

4x800-METER RELAY

Iona's fourth gold medal came in the 4x800-meter relay as junior Nick Soldevere (1:55.7), freshman Scott Fagan (1:55.7), Dee (1:55.0), and rookie Aiden Coles (1:54.7) blazed a 7:41.05. They defeated the Siena quartet handily by nearly 4.5 seconds. It was Dee's fourth career MAAC indoor medal and third gold, Soldevere's third indoor medal (all golds), Coles' first of two medals on the day and Fagan's first as a Gael.  Dee competed on last season's 4x800 and finished fifth overall.

800-METER RUN

Coles earned silver in the 800-meter event with a personal best time of 1:52.26. The time is the fastest this season for the Maroon & Gold and ranks No. 12 on Iona's all-time list. Soldevere earned fifth place points in 1:54.71.

60-METER DASH

Tabois earned a second medal with a bronze in the 60-meter dash. His 6.85 was a personal best time and matched the second fastest in school history held by teammate Jordan Providence.  He was .01 off the school mark.  Providence earned sixth place points in this year's event in 6.96.

4x400-METER RELAY

Junior John Conroy (52.0), sophomores Donnovan Tucker (53.5) and Nick Sinofsky (54.3), and Tabois (50.4) earned sixth place points in the 4x400 meter relay.  The quartet ran a time of 3:30.24.

TEAM SCORES

Rider captured the team title with 207 points. Mount St. Mary's finished second (140 points) in their MAAC Indoor debut.  The Gaels were third with 105 points. Manhattan (80), Siena (45), Saint Peter's (31), Canisius (27) and Marist (24) rounded out the team performances.

IONA PERFORMERS

60: Jadyn Tabois, 3rd, 6.85; Jordan Providence, 6th, 6.96. 200: Jadyn Tabois, 1st, 21.02. 800: Aiden Coles, 2nd, 1:52.26; Nick Soldevere, 5th, 1:54.71. Mile: Damien Dilcher, 1st, 4:13.07; Jonathan DeSouza, 7th, 4:18.21. 3k: Matt Rankin, 1st, 8:02.18; Mael Gouyette, 2nd, 8:04.14; Graham Baird, 4th, 8:13.20; Campbell Lee, 16th, 8:52.91. Shot Put: John Khader, 12th, 9.25m. 4x400: J. Conroy, D. Tucker, N. Sinofsky, J. Tabois, 6th, 3:30.24. 4x800: N. Soldevere, S. Fagan, J. Dee, A. Coles, 1st, 7:41.05.

UP NEXT

Iona tackles the 2023 IC4A Championships in two weeks at the Armory.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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