Penn Javelin Thrower Sets Personal Best Winning at the NCAA Championship
Locals In Day One Competition
June 9, 2022 –
The NCAA Track and Field National Championship meet is underway at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The big news for the Philly school athletes competing came from Penn Javelin thrower Marc Minichello. He is the NCAA Champion with a distance of 81.17m which is his personal best. He is the second Penn athlete to win the Javelin. Brian Chaput won the event in 2003.
The winning throw for Minichello came in the third round, and scored 10 points for the Red and blue. He also set a distance of 81.05m in his fifth throw of the event, which would too have won the title. Ethan Dabbs of Virginia placed second in the event registering a distance of 79.68m. That result came in his round six and final attempt. Tzuriel Pedigo representing LSU placed third throwing a distance of 78.90. Taran Taylor of Wichita State finished fourth with a throw of 78.76m. Pedigo and Taylor also registered a personal best in this event.
Track Recap
Villanova had two runners compete on Day One.
In the final of the men’s 10000 meters Haftu Strintzos ran for the Wildcats and placed 19th in the event running a time of 28:47.15. Notre Dame’s Dylan Jacobs won the crown covering the distance in 28:12.32. Strintzos’ time was the best of any Villanova runners at the meet event. He finished the race posting the seventh fastest time in program history. Strintzos was well positioned in the middle of the pack after 6000 meters. At the 8000 meters mark the pace picked up with the lead pack forging ahead. Strintozos was not able to keep up with that group.
Sean Dolan of Villanova advanced to the finals of the 800 meters on Friday. His time of 1:46.96 is a season best, Dolan is the first Nova runner to make the final outdoors since Samuel Ellison did so in 2012. Running in the second semifinal heat Dolan was matched against Moad Zahafi of Texas Tech who had the fastest qualifying time for the event. Dolan ran with Zahafi and crossed the finish line three-tenths of a second behind. Dolan clocked the fifth-best time of the semifinal round.
Looking Ahead
Day Two of the meet on Thursday sees two locals scheduled to compete. In the finals of the Women’s Hammer Throw Mayyi Mahama of Penn will be in flight two of the event. She is ranked 18th and has a personal best of 66.93m.
In the women’s 800 meters semifinal McKenna Keegan runs for Villanova. She is in Heat 3. Keegan enters the event ranked 11th and ran a season-best time of 2:02.70. Her personal best time is 2:01.25.
Keep up with the locals here throughout the championships.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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