Lakers Qualify Seven for Regionals at SUNY Geneseo

GENESEO, N.Y. - The Lakers track and field teams kicked off their indoor season this past weekend at SUNY Geneseo, with six student-athletes qualifying for the NJCAA Region III championships and the NJCAA Division III national championships.

Leading the way for the Lakers was sophomore Jacob DiGiovanni (Waterloo, N.Y./ Waterloo) who clocked a time of 38:20.20 in the 10k race, qualifying him for the NJCAA Region III and NJCAA Division III championships. Leah Lloyd (Palmyra, N.Y./ Palmyra Macedon) also had a standout performance, setting a personal record of 11:44.47 in the steeplechase and earning a spot in both the regional and national championships. Morgan Cheney (Prattsburgh, N.Y./ Prattsburgh) and John Zimmerman (Middlesex, N.Y./ Marcus Whitman) joined her in the steeplechase and ran times of 14:52.52 and 10:54.55 respectively, each qualifying for the regional and national championships.

In the field events, Jaylen Wims threw the shot put 12.68m, earning a qualifying spot for the regional and national championships. Memphis Lohnes (Rushville, N.Y./ Marcus Whitman) cleared a height of 3.90m in the pole vault to also earn a spot in the regional and national championships.

Michael Oberdorf (Newark, N.Y./ Newark) ran a time of 11:36.61 in the steeplechase, qualifying for the regional championships. Other finishers for the Lakers included Gavin Fernaays (Williamson, N.Y./ Williamson), 28.26m, Jason Hammond (Geneseo, N.Y./ Geneseo) 29.37m, and Jake Williams, 27.72m in the javelin, Williams would also compete in the discus for the Lakers with a mark of 21.54m. Jose Rivera (Waterloo, N.Y./ Waterloo) ran well in both the 100m and 200m, with times of 12.70 and 26.83 respectively.

Overall, it was a strong showing for the Lakers. Next up, a meet at SUNY Cortland next Saturday, April 8th where the Lakers will look to continue to their hot start the the season and earn qualifying times for the regional and national championships.