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Steve Morgan Aspen Gaita Outdoor Podium
Bloomsburg Sports Info

Morgan (110H), Gaita (100H) Claim PSAC Titles on Final Day of 2017 Outdoor Championships

5/6/2017 12:00:00 AM

Full Men's Results  |  Full Women's Results  |  Photo Gallery (Men)  |  Photo Gallery (Women)

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Senior Steve Morgan and sophomore Aspen Gaita continued their year-long dominance of the sprint hurdles events with PSAC titles in their respective finals on Saturday, leading East Stroudsburg University on the third and final day of the 2017 Outdoor Championships.

Morgan rolled to his fourth-consecutive championship in the 110-meter hurdles, crossing the line in a time of 14.39 which was 0.23 ahead of the next-closest finisher. He becomes the first men's track & field athlete in ESU history to win four-straight PSAC titles in a single event, and he is also the first in conference history to win four 110m hurdle titles in a row.

Morgan, who also won the 60m hurdles at this year's PSAC Indoor Championships, will conclude his collegiate career with six conference titles. That is the third most in ESU men's history, behind only Paul Wagner (8) and Lenny Jenkins (7).

Gaita completed a PSAC sprint hurdle sweep for the year as well, as she previously won the 60m hurdles indoors. Her time of 13.94 in today's final was one-hundredth under her school record mark posted in the preliminaries on Friday. Gaita finished 0.14 ahead of Shippensburg's Danielle Sciremammano in second place.

The Warriors added runner-up efforts in both of the 4x800m relay finals, and ultimately ended the afternoon with a total of 11 top-five performances. The ESU men took third place in the team standings with 77 points, finishing third or higher for an eighth time in the last nine years. The women concluded the meet in eighth place with a total of 50.5 which was less than five points out of sixth place.

Action on the track began with a pair of third-place showings from the 4x100m relay squads. Sophomore Marissa Flim, freshman Tiana Webster, sophomore Leiana Dean and Gaita posted a time of 47.64 which ranks No. 4 in program history for the women, and senior Ernest Pendleton, sophomore Akeim Thomas, Morgan and sophomore Pat Monahan are now No. 8 all-time on the men's side (41.77).

Both runner-up performances in the 4x800 relays were season-bests as well. Senior Erin Brady, sophomore Shante Dorin, junior Samantha Young and junior Kaylyn West ran the women's race in 9:25.28 (No. 2 all-time), and freshman Mike Sheptuk, sophomore Jared Glosser, freshman Andrew Lopez and sophomore Khai Samuels completed the men's race in 7:56.28.

The Warrior men had a total of seven individual scorers on Saturday. Four of those came in the 110m hurdles, as junior Christian Castro (5th, 15.12), sophomore Mike Matrisciano (6th, 15.26) and Thomas (7th, 15.32) followed Morgan across the finish line.

Noah Lockwood broke his own ESU freshman record in the discus, registering a top toss of 158-0 to take fourth place in the event. That throw ranks him fifth all-time in program history. Fellow freshman Andrew Schumacher also entered the record books in the 400m hurdles, as he is now No. 9 all-time after finishing fifth with a mark of 54.14.

Senior Robert Garvey added three points for the Warriors with a sixth-place showing in the 400m (49.23). Schumacher and Garvey then teamed with freshman Nick Lawrence and Thomas to place fourth in the 4x400m relay to conclude the meet (3:19.01).

The women had five additional individual scorers to go along with Gaita. Junior Hope Decker and sophomore Hannah Marth each placed fourth in the 400m hurdles and javelin, respectively, and each did so with PRs that cracked the program's top 10 lists. Decker is now No. 5 all-time after completing the hurdles in 1:03.16, while Marth registered a top throw of 130-0 which ranks her eighth in program history.

Matthews (long jump, t-6th, 5-3 1/4), Webster (100m, 6th, 12.58) and Young (1500m, 7th, 4:50.64) also landed in the top eight in their respective events, and freshman Sarah Klag, Gaita, Brady and Matthews ended the afternoon with an eighth-place showing in the 4x400m relay (3:59.02).

The outdoor season continues for ESU next weekend, as several Warriors will travel to Lakewood, N.J., on Friday to take part in Georgian Court's Last Chance Meet. This year's NCAA Division II Championships are scheduled to take place in Bradenton, Fla., from May 25-27.
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