The Rensselaer men’s track team capitalized on their throwing dominance to lay claim to the UCAA Championships this past Saturday at Union. RPI won the five-team event, edging out St. Lawrence by just 5 points, 237-232.

The throwing contingent was led by Bill Monette who won the shot put (15.58 m), and the discus (51.020 m), and took second in the hammer (52.040 m).

For Monette this meet was just a continuation of the dominance which he has displayed all season long, as he has continued to lead the nation in the discus this season and is among the top 15 in the hammer and shot put.

In addition to Monette, RPI placed seven athletes among the top 11 discus throws. This included Josh Black (40.0 m), Craig Lewis (39.760 m), Nathan Doyle (37.840 m), and Jeff Cranell (35.540 m).

Black also won the hammer, an event in which Rensselaer had seven of the top nine finishers. The Engineers also had high marks in the javelin, where Gregg Brown (49.550 m) took first.

The Engineers had several other first-place finishers: Ian Gilhooly (1.92 m) in the high jump, Jeff Banks (4.114 m) in the pole vault, Derek McGough (6.70 m) in the long jump, Dwaine Alleine (13.690 m) in the triple jump.

While the runners were not as strong as the throwers, they did manage to dot the board with some high finishes. Among these were McGough’s (11.16 s) first-place finish in the 100-meter dash. Paul Salasznyk finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and third in the 400-meter hurdles. Tim Kachur took fourth in the 100-meter (11.29 s) and placed second in the 200-meter dash (22.88 s). Duane Crammond (33:12.32 min) took second in the 10,000-meter and Justin Jablonowski (10:03.12 min) led a quartet of RPI runners in as he took second in the steeplechase.

Following these performances, Monette was named Most Outstanding Field Event Peformer. McGough was awarded Rookie of the Year. Also, Head Coach Colin Tory was named Coach of Year.

The win over St. Lawrence could vault the Engineers into the national rankings, as the Saints had been ranked 14th in the M-F Athletic Company Division III poll. The team may or may not enter the national spotlight, but the team is already assured a presence at the national meet, where Monette will attempt to become the national champion in the discus. Monette’s throw of 52.30m is .71 m better than the nearest competition.

The men’s track team will be on the road this weekend when they compete in the Springfield Invite.