College Report

March 4, 2008 - There was plenty of action on the college scene this past weekend.

Championship action took place at Boston University, where the Heptagonal Championships were held. Two Islanders, no strangers to winning, again mounted the victory stand.

Saidu Ezike (Port Richmond) of the host Cornell team won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.90, after clocking 7.99 in his semifinal heat.

Jesse Carlin (St. Joseph by-the-Sea) won another championship, this time taking the 800 easily. The Penn senior breezed through her heat in 2:09.83, the fastest by more than two seconds, then won the final in 2:08.08, winning by more than three seconds.

Carlin also anchored the second-place 4x400-meter relay team.

Princeton’s Jeff Carbonella (Monsignor Farrell) got shut out of the 800 final, missing by .03. He ran 1:55.56. Harvard’s Vito Cannavo (Farrell) ran 2:35.58 for the 1,000, but did not make the final.

Carbonella and Cannavo each ran 800 legs on the distance medley relays, with Princeton taking second and Harvard sixth.

At the New England championship meet at Boston University, Rhode Island’s John Carstensen (Farrell) was second in the pole vault (15-9), while his former high school teammate, Kyle Duggan of the University of Connecticut was seventh at 15-3. Andrew Orlandi (Farrell) of Sacred Heart failed to clear the opening height of 14-3.25.

At the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championships, former CHSAA champion Alysen Kuck (Sea) of Washington and Lee was fourth in the high jump at 5-1.25.

Speaking of the high jump, St, Francis (Pa.) product William Velez (St. Peter’s) cleared 6-9 for second place at the George Mason Last Chance Invitational.

Several Islanders competed at the NYU Last Chance Invitational at the Armory. Vin Gamgemi (St. Peter’s), Sean Lynch (St. Peter’s), and Peter Liota (Farrell) a;l; ran legs on the third-place St. Francis (Brooklyn) 4x800-meter relay that finished third in 7:51.77, qualifying for the IC4A championship meet.

Wagner College athletes also competed.

Bryan Pagliuca cleared 6-3.5 in the high jump. James Johnston ran 4:29.01 in the mile. The 4x400-meter relay ran 3:25.86, and the 4x800-meter team ran 8:07.98.

On the women’s side, Brecken Drager turned in a nice double, running 5:10.36 for the mile and 10:21.01 for the 3,000 meters. Alaina Alfano was third in the long jump (18-7.25), Amanda Gland triple jumped 36-0, Jocelyn Ford ran the 400 in 1:00.67, and Jessica Balling ran the 500 in 1:23.09.