Staten Island, N.Y. (February 19, 2016)--The Mount St. Mary's University men's and women's indoor track and field teams had thee athletes take home first place honors on the opening day of the 2016 Northeast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Athletic Conference on Friday.

Natalia Hinton won the long jump and Moriah Fitzgerald won the pole vault to pace the Mount women while Chase Boyle and Brenden Chavis finished one-two in the hammer throw to lead the Mount men.

The women's team is in third place at the meet after the first day.  Sacred Heart leads with 39 points, followed by Robert Morris (27), the Mount (22), Saint Francis U (21), Wagner (12), Central Connecticut (12), LIU Brooklyn (8), Fairleigh Dickinson (8), Bryant (6) and St. Francis Brooklyn (1). 

The Mount men are in fifth place after the first day.  Saint Francis U leads with 37.5 points, followed by Central Connecticut (33), Sacred Heart (24), Fairleigh Dickinson (21.5), Mount St. Mary's (21), LIU Brooklyn (16), Wagner (2) and Bryant (1).

Hinton won the long jump with a leap of 5.59m to give the Mount 10 points, earning First Team All-NEC honors.  Teammate Isabel Ross also scored in the long jump, finishing in eighth place (5.15m).  Fitzgerald earned first place in the pole vault with a mark of 3.50m to earn First Team All-NEC honors.  Erin Sample finished eighth in the shot put (12.26m).

Jessica Whitmore advanced to the finals in the 60m dash, Genamarie McCant advanced to the finals with the second-fastest time in the 400m dash (57.97) and Clarke Hooper moved on to tomorrow's 800m final.  Helena Leyrer had a busy day, advancing to the finals in both the 60m hurdles and the 400m dash.

Boyle and Chavis gave the Mount a 1-2 finish in the hammer throw for 18 points.  Boyle grabbed first place and First Team All-NEC honors with a toss of 17.93m while Chavis was second with a mark of 16.06m.  D.J. Workcuff finished sixth in the long jump (6.63m).

Julian Woods had the top time to advance to tomorrow's 60m hurdles final (8.20) while he had the third-fastest mark in the 400m dash (49.78) to move to the finals in that event as well.  Jas Chung-Campbell and Josh Poole both advanced to the 500m finals, Christopher Eltringham to the 800m finals, and Benjamin Finnigin in the mile run.

The meet concludes tomorrow.