#2 Rowan swept four of the five marquee awards as a total of 30 student-athletes were selected all-conference by the New Jersey Athletic Conference in its year-end men’s outdoor track & field honors.
Damitrius Hester was named the Thomas M. Gerrity Most Outstanding Athlete while Angel Gonzalez was chosen as the NJAC Outstanding Track Athlete and David Brown earned the NJAC Rookie of the Year. Head Coach Dustin Dimit and his staff were awarded the Bill Fritz Coaching Staff of the Year as well.
All-NJAC honors were determined by finish at the recent NJAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship and major awards were voted on by the league’s nine head coaches.
Hester won the javelin with a meet record, PR, and new #5 all-time Division III result of 73.38 meters to win the event for the third year in a row. His top mark sits atop of the Division III list this season.
Gonzalez captured the 400 meter hurdles, running a 51.26 winning time in the final, which also is PR and a new #2 in Division III this year.
Brown finished first in the high jump, leading six Profs to place in the top eight of the event. He joins five other teammates ranked in the top 12 in Division III with Brown currently at #3.
The trio lead a plethora of 29 medalists over the weekend at the two-day championships held at Ramapo. The Profs took home its 11th-straight conference championship, totaling 319.33 points for its 24th NJAC Title in program history. Dimit and his coaching staff of Norm Tate, Eric DuBois, Ryan Gebhardt, Milton Goode, John Oberg, Joseph Kalnas, Jassina Surles, Francis Terry, Miles Voenell, and Soham Kolli guided the Profs to 11 first-place finishers.
Joining Hester, Gonzalez, and Brown on the first team were Jason Agyemang in the 110 meter hurdles, Josh Caudill in the Hammer, Dallas Hohney in the 800 meters, Joshua Justin in the triple jump, Javion Payne in the Discus, and Ethan Plut in the Pole Vault. Both the 4×100 relay of Masai Byrd, Evan Corcoran, Joudou Diawara and Elijah Hendricks and the 4×400 relay consisting of Samuel Agbessi, Nick Garman, Blaik Slavinski, and Teddy Wilson were also named first team.
Diawara in the 200 meters and Agbessi in the 400 meter hurdles highlighted second-team honors for the Profs: Drue Chauhan in the javelin, Paris Hamlin in the discus, Kwaku Nkrumah in the 110 meter hurdles, Anthony Parker in the long jump, and Colin Patterson in the 5000 meters were all cited.
Caudill (Shot), Wilson (800 meters), and Eric Foster (100 meters and 110 meter hurdles) scored honorable mention accolades along with Anthony Faust in the 10,000 meters, Dylan Fitzpatrick in the javelin, Max Owens in the pole vault, Chris Ross in the long jump, Marquis Taylor in the 400 meters, Garrett Walters in the 3000 meter steeplechase, and Noah Wampole in the high jump.
The team will see limited action in last chance meets on Friday at Stockton and Monday at Widener. The AARTFC Championships are slated for May 13-14 at Ursinus.