Black Knights Place Second At League Championships

Friday, May 3

Worcester, MA

9 AM

Army West Point

255

Patriot League Championships

Black Knights Place Second At League Championships

May 04, 2019 | Men's Track and Field

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Army West Point men's track and field team finished second at the Patriot League Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday.

The Black Knights posted several top finishes on Saturday, but it was not enough as Navy won its sixth straight outdoor title.

Freshman Justin Young continued his impressive rookie season, finishing first in the 110 meter hurdles and second in the 400 meter hurdles. Senior Jeff Giannettino closed out his final Patriot League Championship with his second consecutive individual championship victory in the high jump.

COACH'S CORNER: Head Coach Mike Smith
"We had our chances today and we did a lot of good things, but not enough of them to win the meet. We scored more points than we have ever scored, we set meet records and school records and we won our fail share of events, but we just didn't have enough of the depth behind the wins to capture the title.

I can't say we competed poorly because that wouldn't be true. We had some terrific performances from our throwers, in the field and from all of our guys in the track. The highlight of the day was Justin Young's meet record in the 110 high hurdles. He continues to get better in that race and has started to master the technical elements of the race. He was head and shoulders better than everyone else out there. There wasn't a whole lot of wind out there today, so what he did was pretty special. He was also great in the 400 hurdles and on our 4x400. He continues to impress me and I think there will be a whole lot more that I have to say about him in the future.

Kedrin Jefferson also showed why he is one of the best sprinters in Academy history. He gave us the lead in the 4x100 going into the anchor, but we just couldn't hold it. He is a very good turn runner and that showed in the 200 where he dominated the field. His consistency has really driven a lot of our recent success.

Our other key win today was in the high jump. What can you say about Jeff Giannettino? He has been so good for so long that we just assume that he will get the job done and he always does. It wasn't his best day, but that is more a product of the competition. He is at his beset when the pressure is on and the bright lights are shining on him. Unfortunately for him, there hasn't been a whole lot of competition in our conference. That won't be a problem for him in the post season. I really just appreciate how much he has done for the program in his career.

While our distance men didn't get any wins today, they dominated the competition and scored more points in the distance events than any other team. Those guys (Petrella, Santoyo, Beatty and Ollar) ran a lot of races this weekend and showed tremendous grit and determination out there.

Ultimately, we came here to win the title and we didn't do that. I am disappointed that I could not get our graduating firsties one more championship. We all just have to get better."

EVENT WINNERS:
Men's 110m Hurdles - Justin Young - 13.89 (Meet Record)
Men's 200m Dash - Kedrin Jefferson - 21.29
Men's High Jump - Jeff Giannettino - 2.07

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
Men's 100m Dash - Kedrin Jefferson - 10.64, Third
Men's 400m Dash - Tyrell Maddox - 47.05, Second
Men's 400m Hurdles - Justin Young - 51.80, Second
Men's 800m Run - Jackson Sullivan - 1:50,76, Second
Men's 800m Run - Ben Boswell - 1:50.81, Third
Men's 5000m Run - Roman Ollar - 14:21.40, Second
Men's 5000m Run - Marshall Beatty - 14:22.28, Third
Men's 4x100m Relay - Andre Vaughn, Ben Sims, Kedrin Jefferson, Kevin Dyer - 40.45, Second
Men's Shot Put - Geoff Kirk - 17.00m,, Second
Men's Discus - Jamir Gibson - 52.41m, Second
Men's Discus - Geoff Kirk - 52.13, Third
Men's High Jump - Joshua Gilliard - 1.97m, Second

FRIDAY'S EVENT WINNERS:
Men's Javelin - August Cook - 72.45m (Program and Meet Record)
Men's 1000m Run: Marshall Beatty - 30:49.81

FULL RESULTS: http://files.milesplit.us/live_results/357908/index.html

UP NEXT: The Cadets will return home and host the West Point Twilight on Thursday May 9.