TROY, NY- The Mohawk Valley Community College Track and Field programs won the Region 3 Championships on Saturday, May 4 at Hudson Community College. The men's team took first with a point total of 220.50, and the women's team scored 206 points to take the win. This was the first time in program history that both teams have simultaneously won regionals, and the men's first ever regional title.
The men's team had a phenomenal outing on the afternoon, taking nine event wins. Four of those wins were won by Omar Mohamed, as he dominated the distance events. In the 800m, Mohamed ran a 2:08.74 to place first. In the 1500m run, the sophomore ran a 4:33.39 to win, just beating the second-place finisher by one second. Mohamed had a dominant win in the 3000m steeplechase. His time of 11:05.33 won by more than 30 seconds, and Adin Kapo was the second-place finisher (11:38.24). Last but not least, Mohamed won the 5000m run with a time of 17:28.74, beating the second-place finisher by nearly two minutes.
Another MVCC athlete with multiple wins on the afternoon was Keenan Cannon. His height of 1.88m in high jump gave him the win, just over teammate Brain Reile, who took second place with a height of 1.83m. The duo also scored big points in the long jump as well. Cannon took the win (6.99m), and Reile was second (6.15m). Cannon also had a pair of second place finishes in the triple jump (13.46m), and in the 100m (11.68). Reile had a win of his own in the 110m hurdles, crossing the line at 16.02.
The Hawks had a pair of wins in the throwing events as well. Jimmy Riley won the javelin throw with a personal best throw of 44.24m. in the hammer throw, MV went one-two. Quinn Jennings was first (33.39m), and Trent Bunker had a personal best mark of 32.87m.
The men's 4x800m relay team of Matt Benjamin, Adin Kapo, Mike Olejarnik and Gregory Philips placed second with a time of 9:08.92.
The women's team won six events on the afternoon across all different event types. Sophomore Breanne Millson took home three event wins. Her heptathlon score of 2846 gave her first place by just less than 20 points. Millson also took first in the 100m hurdles with a time of 17.56. She was also on the winning 4x100m relay team along with Sydney Height, Olga Akhrenmenko and Jacey Hinds who crossed the finish line in 53.61.
Another Lady Hawk with a pair of event wins was Lauren Suppe. The freshman won the 3000m steeplechase (13:23.32) and the 10000m (44:54.97). Also, in the 3000m steeplechase was Marlee Shafer with a second-place finish of 14:03.56. Suppe also had a personal best time in the 5000m of 22:46.56 to take second place.
In the pole vault, Amber Piersma won the event with a height of 2.59m and took second place in high jump with a personal best jump of 1.39m to take second.
Mohawk Valley had a pair of relay teams that each had second place finishes. The 4x800m team of Madison Battisti, Cheryl Bielby, Marlee Shafer and Sydney Hight ran a 13:18.96 to finish second, and the 4x400m squad comprised of Breanne Millson, Hight, Olga Akhrenmenko and Marlee Shafer crossed the finish line in 4:47.80 to take second.
In the triple jump, Jacey Hinds placed second with a leap of 9.37m. Millson was second in the 400m hurdles (1:19.91), and Hinds also placed second in the 200m (28.10).
Mohawk Valley will now turn their focus to the NJCAA Division III Championships that will begin on Thursday, May 9 starting at 11am from Proctor Stadium.