April 6, 2009

Garden City, N.Y. - The Panther track team traveled to Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, April 4 to compete in the University of Pennsylvania Invitational held at Franklin Field. The Harriers posted seven top-10 finishes which included an event winner and another NCAA provisional mark despite a very windy day.

Senior Danielle Matteo and junior Jenilee Fuertes kicked off the day in the meet's first event, the 5k, with ninth and tenth place finishes respectively. Fuertes won the first heat in a time of 19:17 while Matteo stopped the clock at 19:14. Junior Claudine Petit managed to break her own school record in the 200 meter dash by .33 seconds with a 27.01 clocking. Sophomore Danielle Lyons fared well as she earned a sixth place overall finish in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:16.12.

Freshman Mychael Fabio was second in the 400 meter dash, lowering his provisional mark to 47.52, just .03 out of first place. His time should move him on the NCAA list for the event. Senior Kevin Durant posted two top-three finishes in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. He was third in the 100 in 10.91 running into a strong headwind while winning the 200 in a time of 21.84, a full tenth of a second ahead of the nearest competitor. Capping off the meet was the men's 5k in which graduate student Matt Dispensa posted the final top-10 spot of the day with a 15:36 effort, good enough for tenth place.

The Panthers will be back on track in two weeks when they travel to Richard Stockton College in Pomona, N.J. for the outdoor CTC Championships. The meet will begin on Saturday, April 18 and end on Sunday, April 19.