STAC Track Takes 4th in ECC Championship Meet; Winslow Dorsainvil Set Record in 100 Meter Dash

By Dylan Bestler

On April 17, all seven East Coast Conference teams gathered at Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York to compete in the championship track and field meet. The seven teams (both men and women) are Daemen College, University of District of Columbia (women only), LIU Post University, Molloy College, Queens College, Roberts Wesleyan University, and St. Thomas Aquinas College.

For STAC and several other teams, it was a more than five hour bus ride to Rochester; this is why the teams arrived a day early. The actual meet was the day after, on April 18.

Roberts Wesleyan took the ECC championship on both the men and women’s side. The men’s team scored 233 points, trouncing all of the other teams. Second place went to last year’s champions, Queens College with 161 points. The women’s team for Roberts Wesleyan scored 187 points, outscoring District of Columbia, which came in second with 139 points.

In a dramatic improvement from indoor track standings, STAC’s men and women’s teams placed 4th in the outdoor event.

Here are the standings from the meet:

Men’s                            
1.  Roberts Wesleyan               
2.  Queens               
3.  Molloy                   
4.  St. Thomas Aquinas           
5.  LIU Post               
6.  Daemen

Women’s
1.  Roberts Wesleyan
2.  District of Columbia
3.  Molloy
4.  St. Thomas Aquinas
5.  Queens
6.  Daemen
7.  LIU Post

Roberts Wesleyan men were led by Gabe Rivera, who was the ECC indoor athlete of the year this past season. He gave the team 36 points just by himself, winning in the high jump, coming in second in both the 100 meter dash and 200 meter dash, third in long jump and fourth in pole vault. He was also on the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay, coming in fourth and second respectively, giving him a total of 48 points.

Daemen College as a whole scored 48 points. Other big performers for Roberts Wesleyan were Thomas Rodger who won the 800 and 1500 meter run, Kevin Brown won the 5k, Justin Bender won the 3,000 meter steeplechase, Malcom Shaw won the javelin throw, and Aaron Mcginnis won the long and triple jump and got third in high jump and pole vault.

On the women’s side for Roberts Wesleyan the top performers were Rachel Brush and Katy Perry. Brush won the 3,000 meter steeplechase, got second in the 800 meter run, third in the 1500 and was on both the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay, coming in third in both. Katy Perry scored in all the throwing events, winning the discus, second in the hammer, third in the shot put and sixth in the javelin. Other winners for Roberts Wesleyan were April Sablan who won the 5k, Brianna Calderon who won the 400 meter hurdles, Kasey Semmler won the pole vault and Victoria Houser won the hammer throw.

Spartan Runners Won Several Events

The men and women teams for the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas improved from the indoor season, when the men’s team was last place and women were second to last. Outdoors, both teams got fourth place; men scoring 61 points and the women scoring 88.

The STAC men were led by Winslow Dorsainvil, who won all of his events and set school and meet records in them. He won the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.52, which is a new meet record and a new school record. He then won the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.94. He was also the second leg in his 4x100 meter relay team that placed first. That team consisted of Travis Volpe, Dorsainvil, Ricardo Reid and Lloyd Smalling.  Reid also placed fourth in the 400 meter dash and helped the 4x400 meter team get fourth place.

Other top performers for the men were Dylan Bestler, Tristan Holmgen and Jamer Linares. Bestler won the 400 meter hurdles and was on the 4x400 meter relay team. Holmgen, who was competing in his first meet of the season due to injury, placed second in the high jump. Linares placed fourth in the 10k and sixth in the 5k.

The Lady Spartans had a lot of top performers. Kristen Boriello and Katie O’Grady won their events, the 1500 meter and 10k, respectively. Kelsey Barnes, Gabby Sloezen, Gina Funaro and Sam Gabriel had good days as well. Barnes placed third in the discus and fifth in the shot put. Sloezen placed third in the 400 meter dash, sixth in the 200 meter dash and helped both of her relays (4x100 and 4x400) place fourth. Funaro, only having run the event one other time, placed second in the 400 meter hurdles and was also on the 4x400 meter team. Gabriel placed fourth in the triple jump and sixth in long jump.

The 4x800 meter team of Meaghan Ventarola, Kristen Boriello, Patricia Nersten and Allison Boriello placed second. Ventarola also placed second in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and A. Boriello placed fourth in the open 800.Other Spartans who contributed to the meet were Cecilia Pfleging and Tara Hansen. Pfleging placed third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and Hansen placed fifth in the 100 meter hurdles.

Although the Spartans did not win the meet, they have to be proud of the progress they have made throughout the season. They also had many first and second team all-conference runners.

1st Team All-Conference               
Winslow Dorsainvil     100, 200, 4x100       
Dylan Bestler         400 Hurdles           
Lloyd Smalling               4x100               
Ricardo Reid                  4x100               
Travis Volpe                   4x100               
Tristan Holmgen     High Jump           
Kristen Borriello           1500               
Gina Funaro         400 Hurdles           
Katie O'Grady               10,000               
Meaghan Ventarola    3,000 Steeplechase       

2nd Team All-Conference
Ricardo Reid        400
Jamer Linares         10,000
Gabby Sloezen        400
Allison Boriello    800
Cecelia Pfleging    3,000 Steeplechase
Meaghan Ventarola    4x800
Patricia Nersten    4x800
Kristen Boriello    4x800
Kelsey Barnes        Discus
Sam Gabriel        High Jump, Long Jump

The Spartans are looking forward to the future with a number of recruits coming in. With more bodies and hard work, the Spartans will have their eyes set on gaining an ECC championship next year.


Dylan Bestler is a freshman at St. Thomas Aquinas College. He is from Williston Park, New York in Nassau County, Long Island. He went to Mineola High School and he is majoring in Communications/Journalism. He is on the STAC track team and wants to be a sports writer/anchor in the future.