Monmouth finished first among the 13 Division I teams, beating Rutgers, Delaware State, FDU, Fordham, Hofstra, Iona, NJIT, Temple, St. Joseph's, St. Peter's, Rider and St. Francis (N.Y.) in the dual meet scored event.

"We are happy that we continued the tradition of winning at our home opener," said head coach Joe Compagni.  "We had excellent performances at many events, it was a total team effort."
 

Taylor had a solid day for MU, taking first in the long jump with a leap of 18’ 3 ¾” while finishing third overall in the 100m hurdles (15.40) and second in the 100m with a time of 12.79.  Taylor was also a member of MU’s second place 4x100 team that finished in 48.55, qualifying for the ECAC's.  Senior Deanna Paulson (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township), freshman Michelle Losey (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) and Latasha Dickson (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan)  were also members of that team.

Freshman Brittany Gibbs’ (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) distance of 36’ 11” in the triple jump was first among all competitors, with Jen Tarsan (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) taking fourth with a jump of 34 1 ½” and Jen Swan finishing sixth (32’ 8 ¼”).  Gibbs' mark set a new MU freshman record and a new MU Season Opener record.

Dickson won the 400m hurdles for the Hawks, finishing in a time of 1:01.70.  Ashley Huffman (South Setauket, N.J./Ward Melville) took third overall (second college competitor) in the 400m dash, crossing the line at 56.88.  Losey was sixth in the event with a time of 57.69 while sophomore Illiana Blackshear (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) was eighth (58.47).  Losey was MU’s lone top-eight performer in the 200m dash, crossing the line with a time of 26.23.

The Blue & White 4x400 team of Losey, Blackshear, Crystal Stein (Stewartstown, Pa./Susquehannak) and Dickson took first among nine teams, crossing the finish line in 3:54.21.

The Hawk pole vault unit took second fourth and fifth in the competition, with junior Nikki Zwartjes (Burlington, N.J./Burlington) clearing 3.20m for second place.  Christine Fatale (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) took fourth (3.05m) and Laura Myers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) finished as the fifth place competitor with her vault of 2.75m.    

Senior Malia Lyles (Collingswood, N.J./Cherokee) finished seventh in the 5000m, crossing the line at 17:59.22.  Latasha Leake (Wightstown, N.J./North Burlington) and Shannon Rogers (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) each cleared 5’2” in the high jump, which tied them for third among all performers.   Tarsan’s jump of 1.55m gave her a seventh place finish in the high jump, while Lindsay Rutter (Delran, N.J./Delran) was third in the 3000m Steeplechase.  Amanda Zacharkow (Roebling, N.J./Florence) took eighth place in the shot put, throwing 37’ 2 ¼”.

The Hawks will compete at the Maryland Invitational on Sat. March 31.