4/22/2012 10:11:00 PM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Adam Szablowski took home gold medals in the hammer and the javelin on Sunday night as the Embry-Riddle men's team jumped out to a 45-point lead after day one of The Sun Conference Championships hosted by ERAU. The Eagles closed out the day with 115 points, with Webber International in second place with 70 points and Warner in third place with 14 points.

Szablowski scored 20 points for the Blue and Gold, winning the hammer throw with a mark of 40.97m and the javelin with a distance of 53.21m. The Eagles swept the podium in the hammer as John Schmotzer placed second (38.14m) and Peter Benoit finished third (28.33m). Benoit also came in second in the javelin (51.87m), while teammates Andrew Paino (44.25m) and Brett Galloway (44.03m) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Leon Robinson earned All-Conference accolades in both of the jumps on Sunday, placing second in the triple jump (13.16m) and third in the high jump (1.91m). Craig Milliard finished just behind Robinson in the triple jump, coming in third with a mark of 12.27m.

The Eagles placed four runners in the top six in the 10,000m, led by Alex Frazier's first-place time of 33:08.27. Josh Guerrero placed second in 34:06.60, while Jacob Dordick finished fourth (34:33.31) and Jason Riggs came in sixth (35:32.07).

Reagan Beal advanced to the finals in the 400m, where he will be the second seed; Beal will be joined by Brian Laing, who qualified seventh. Beal will also run in the 200m finals along with teammates Leon Robinson, Jeffrey McClary II and James Morgan. Robinson, McClary II and Morgan all qualified in the 100m as well, with Robinson and McClary II winning their preliminary heats to earn the top two seeds in tomorrow's final.

The Eagles closed out the first day's events with a first-place finish in the 4x800m relay. Jonathon Brasch, Joe Fuller, Mallory Jackson and Galloway teamed up to run a 7:46.13, winning the race by over seven seconds.

The Sun Conference Championships will conclude tomorrow at the ERAU Track Complex with action beginning at 9 a.m. The first men's race will be the 3000m Steeplechase at 9:20 a.m., while the first field event for the men will be the shot put at 10 a.m.

11/5/2011 2:50:00 PM

AVE MARIA, Fla. - Just two weeks after placing well behind No. 24 SCAD Savannah at the Southeast Classic, the Embry-Riddle Eagles Men's Cross Country squad pulled off an upset over the Bees in the 2011 Sun Conference Cross Country Championship. The Eagles put all five scoring runners in the top ten, including first-place finisher Evans Kirwa, to claim their seventh consecutive Sun Conference title, and the first postseason crown of the 2011 ERAU athletics' season.

Kirwa, a three-time NAIA National Runner of the Week, won his third straight Sun Conference Runner of the Year honor, finishing the 8K race in 25:39.84, 55 seconds in front of second-place finisher Ignacio Fernandez from SCAD Savannah.

Fernandez was the first of three Bee runners to place two-four, but Zachary Kraus and Alex Frazier went five, six respectively for the Blue and Gold. Kraus ran a 27:05.74 while Frazier's time of 27:11.37 was nine second faster than finisher No. 7 from Webber International.

Josh Guerrero (27:24.39) and Jacob Dordick (27:26.11) were the keys for the Eagles, as their eighth and ninth place finishes pushed ERAU to the team title. Dordick's time was a personal record for the freshman, posted on a course that was running slow for the rest of the competitors.

Patrick Clare (28:22.97), Alec Hernandez (28:51.58), Jason Riggs (29:31.84), Paul Meesala (30:08.39) and Jonathan Brasch (30:32.29) also competed for the Eagles.

"This was an unbelievable and exciting race for us," Coach Mike Rosolino stated. "These guys really stepped up, especially Jacob. For a freshman to come in and hit a personal best on this course on a day like this was phenomenal. I can't say enough about him or this team. The team ran for each other today and put together an exceptional performance, coming back to beat a SCAD team that beat us last meet. A great job by a great group of young men."

The Eagles will prepare for the 2011 NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Wash. on Nov. 19. Their best-ever finish in the event came in 2009 when they placed fifth overall.

10/14/2011 9:09:00 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. - Evans Kirwa followed up his third individual race title of the 2011 season last Saturday with his fourth title of the fall on Friday evening at the UCF Black and Gold Challenge in Orlando. Kirwa was much too fast for the rest of the field, out-pacing the second-place finisher by almost a minute en route to the meet crown, while leading ERAU to a fourth-place showing.

Kirwa, an Eldoret, Kenya native, ran the 8K race in 24:15.10, the third fastest time in Embry-Riddle history. Nearly eclipsing his record-setting 24:06.71 mark at last year's Southeast Classic. Kirwa has earned two NAIA National Runner of the Week honors thus far in 2011, and on Friday, ran his season-best time at the UKNIGHT in Pink event, meant to raise awareness for Breast Cancer research. All of the approximately 300 runners wore pink shoelaces.

Coming in second for the Blue and Gold was senior Alex Frazier (26:16.21), also posting a season-best 8K mark for Head Coach Mike Rosolino.

Zachary Kraus (27:01.18) was third for ERAU, while Patrick Clare (28:16.81) and fresman Dylan Roberts (28:26.25) wrapped up the Eagles' top five.

Newcomers Jason Riggs (28.46.40) and Paul Meesala (28:46.74) finished 43rd and 44th respectively and Jonathan Brasch (29:18.36) and Dalton L'Heureux (29:40.95) were the final Eagle finishers.

Embry-Riddle finished fourth, better than four NCAA I teams, tallying 85 points in the race.

The Sun Conference Championships are set for Nov. 5 in Ave Maria, Fla., but the Eagles will have one final regular season race to prepare when they travel to Rome, Ga. and compete in the Southeast Classic hosted by Berry University.

10/8/2011 1:27:00 PM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's cross country team captured its first team title of the 2011 season, running away with the ERAU Asics Classic on Saturday. Running in extremely soggy conditions on the course on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus, the Eagles turned in a combined time of 2:21:00.40 and placed seven runners in the top 10 to finish with 17 total points.

For the fourth straight race, Evans Kirwa was the Eagles top runner in the 8K as he claimed his third individual title of the season after crossing the line in 26:14.90. Kirwa, a two-time NAIA National Runner of the Week, finished more than minute ahead of teammate Alex Frazier who was second overall in 27:47.86. Zachary Kraus (28:32.19) and Josh Guerrero (28:55.73) were third and fourth, respectively, and Jacob Dordick (7th, 29:29.72), Patrick Clare (9th, 29:55.80) and Jason Riggs (10th, 30:07.47) rounded out the Eagles top seven finishers.

“Overall I was pretty pleased with how the meet went,” ERAU head coach Mike Rosolino stated. “I like how our athletes responded to the poor conditions. They accepted the challenge of the rain, mud and hills and ran very well. It was great preparation for nationals where we have to deal with all of those elements."

9/24/2011 10:38:00 AM

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The 21st-ranked Embry-Riddle Men's Cross Country team took home sixth place at the Mountain Dew Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida, on Saturday morning. The Eagles finished ahead of six NCAA I teams, and totalled 192 points on the day.

Junior Evans Kirwa nearly made it three straight wins to open up the 2011 season, leading the race until the final 400m. The native of Eldoret, Kenya would end up finishing fourth in 24:27.23, the 11th-fastest time in Embry-Riddle history. Kirwa now owns nine of the top-20 times for ERAU.

Alex Frazier recorded his third, second-place finish of the year, racing to a time of 26:33.91, his fastest 8K mark of the season. New Milford, Connecticut's own Zachary Kraus was the third Blue and Gold finisher in 27:01.07 and newcomer Alec Hernandez placed 66th in 27:56.67, the third time in as many races the freshman has placed in ERAU's top five.

Rounding out the Eagle scorers was Patrick Clare (28:15.71), while Jacob Dordick (28:26.48) and Jason Riggs (28:53.01) both finished in the top-90.

"We're continuing to improve, and that's what is important," Eagle Head Coach Mike Rosolino said. "Evans and Alex ran good races for us, and as a team we were much closer to Miami this week than we were last week."

Michigan (42) won the 17-team event, while host Florida (46), North Carolina (47), Florida Track Club (165) and Miami (Fla.) (188), finished out the top five. The Eagles fell just four points shy of besting the Hurricanes, but did manage to coast past NCAA I members Florida International, South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida Atlantic, Stetson and Bethune-Cookman.

9/9/2011 10:16:00 PM

TAMPA, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle Eagles were once again led by junior Evans Kirwa, this time at the USF Invitational where Kirwa won his second consecutive meet, finishing a full 50 seconds in front of the second-place runner. ERAU placed third, finishing behind NCAA I members Florida and Miami.

Kirwa paced the Blue and Gold with a time of 25:04.45, the second place finisher finished in 25:54.01. Kirwa was followed by senior Alex Frazier (26:36.69) in 18th place, freshman Alec Hernandez (26:39.20) in 19th and Joshua Guerrero (26:45.03) in 21st. Zach Kraus (26:55.84) rounded out the ERAU top five, while freshmen Jason Riggs (27:52.56)finished 50th.

Florida and Miami ran one-two in the team finishers, with ERAU coming in third, Tampa fourth and Nova Southeastern fifth.

"We ran extremeley well tonight," Eagle coach Mike Rosolino said. "Our second through fifth runners were really close together, if we can close the gap between our first and second runners as well as our fifth and sixth runners we can have an exceptional season."

Embry-Riddle returns to the course in two week on Sept. 24, 2011 at the Mountain Dew Invite in Gainesville, Fla.

9/2/2011 9:42:00 PM

DOVER, Fla. - Junior All-American Evans Kirwa began the 2011 season strong, winning the UT Early Bird Classic in 19:25, 12 second ahead of the second-place runner. The Eagles as a team placed second overall, finishing just behind a semi-professional running team by 11 points, but placing first amongst the collegiate teams at the race.

Kirwa's first-place finish paved the way for fellow Eagles Alex Frazier and Josh Guerrero to finish 12th and 13th respectively. Frazier finished the 4-mile race in 20:33, while junior Guerrero came in at 20:35. Freshman Alec Hernandez (20:44) finished 16th overall, and ERAU's Zachary Kraus placed 19th in 20:51. All five of the Eagles' scorers finished in the top 20 runners. Jason Riggs (21:30) and Bruce Federico (22:01) also competed for the Blue and Gold.

Embry-Riddle's total time of 1:42.08 was less than a second slower than the meet winner, Running Center's time of 1:41.38, just 1:26 separated Kirwa from Kraus.

Florida Tech, Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern finished third, fourth and fifth in the 13 team, 140-runner event. The only other NAIA school was 11th-place Webber International.