BOSTON — The second and final day of the America East Indoor Championships saw the NJIT track and field program add three more women's podium performances to Monday's DMR medal and put together more scoring finishes in an historic moment for the school.

POST-CHAMPIONSHIPS STATEMENT FROM HEAD COACH JASON MUNSCH
"Overall, I am very pleased with how our teams performed and rose to the occasion at these Championships. We had many personal and season bests, multiple school records, and a lot of individuals who were not ranked in the top eight in their respective events who stepped up, made the finals, and scored points for the team. 

Our women's program took a big step forward by more than doubling our point total from a year ago and by increasing our medal total from one event in 2023 to four at these Championships, including two relays. I mention the relays because relay medals are always more special in our sport because it's where you really see the team come together as one. 

Additionally, our women finished eighth out of nine teams and for the first time were not at the bottom of the conference. We also earned our first ever medal in a distance event as a program at these Championships. The women really showed up to compete and when the moment was big, they stepped up and performed.

In preparation for these championships, our focus was on competing and rising to the occasion. I told the team that it didn't matter where they were ranked on a performance list coming into the Championships, what mattered is who was ready to compete at their best when it mattered the most and that's exactly what they did.

On the men's side, we came into this championship very thin, missing some of our top performers due to injury and others not being at their best. However, that didn't stop our men from going out there, taking chances and going for it. I think, all things considered, the men competed well and they know that they are capable of even more this outdoor season. 

This program is young and hungry and now that they are getting a little taste of success and starting to believe in what they are capable of, they are only going to have more success. We have one more indoor meet to try and put an exclamation mark on this historic season and then it's onto the outdoor season where this team is hungry for more and ready to keep climbing the ladder."

LADIES' NIGHT
For the first time in NJIT's America East history, the women's team collected all of the Highlanders' medals at a Championship meet. Individually, Maddie Stevens repeated as the runner-up in the 400 meters (school record 54.60) and Hayley Lucido picked up her first AE medal with a bronze in the 500 meters (1:15.48). Collectively, the duo teamed up with Sanai Jenkins and Monday DMR bronze medalist Grace Burke to win bronze in the 4x400 Relay in a school record time of 3:48.25.

In one meet, NJIT's total of women's America East indoor medalists went from one (Stevens) to seven with the additions of Lucido, Burke, Jenkins, Jenna Keith, Nadia Zhecheva and Sarah Van Ornum. Also, the number of multi-time AE indoor medalists tripled from one (Stevens, 3) to three (Burke and Lucido, 2).

TOPS ON THE MEN'S SIDE
Freshman Damon Dukes, Jr. made his presence known as the top point scorer for the Highlander men at Indoors. Dukes, Jr. narrowly missed out on a medal in the 200 meters (4th, 21.88; 5 pts) and also finished eighth in the 60 meter finals (7.06, 1 pt) for six points overall. 

NJIT did earn a major America East award as junior Joseph Mucci was named the men's Elite 18 award winner as the male student-athlete with the highest GPA at the Indoor Championships. Mucci is a Mathematical Sciences and Computer Science double major with a perfect 4.0 GPA who set a PR in the 1000 meters (2:29.33) and also ran in the 4x800 Relay and DMR during the meet.

COMPLETE NJIT SCORING PERFORMANCES

DATE	EVENT	ATHLETE	TIME/MARK	PLACE	PTS	SCHOOL RECORD?
Tues.	Women's 400m	Maddie Stevens	54.60+	2nd	8	Yes
Tues.	Women's 500m	Hayley Lucido	1:15.48+	3rd	6	No
Tues.	Women's 4x400 Relay	Grace Burke/Sanai Jenkins/Hayley Lucido/Maddie Stevens	3:48.25	3rd	6	Yes
Mon.	Women's DMR	Nadia Zhecheva/Grace Burke/Jenna Keith/Sarah Van Ornum	11:57.87	3rd	6	Yes
Tues.	Men's 200m	Damon Dukes, Jr.	21.88	4th	5	No
Tues.	Women's 800m	Nadia Zhecheva	2:16.21+	5th	4	No
Tues.	Women's 4x800 Relay	Jenna Keith/Julia Canonaco/Sarah Van Ornum/Nadia Zhecheva	9:27.52	5th	4	Yes
Tues.	Men's Triple Jump	Jordan Lindinger-Asamoah	14.79m / 48-6.25	5th	4	No
Mon.	Men's DMR	Joseph Mucci/Lossenie Fofana/David Munera/Matthew Morena	10:09.50	6th	3	No
Tues.	Men's 4x800 Relay	David Munera/Khalid Itani/Matthew Morena/Joseph Mucci	7:51.70	6th	3	No
Tues.	Men's 200m	Jacob Leigh	22.16	7th	2	No
Tues.	Women's 500m	Sanai Jenkins	1:17.08+	7th	2	No
Mon.	Men's Long Jump	Ryan Nartey	6.72m / 22-0.75+	7th	2	No
Mon.	Women's Long Jump	Nia Holloway	5.40m / 17-8.75	7th	2	No
Tues.	Women's 60m	Nia Holloway	7.87	8th	1	No
Tues.	Men's 60m	Damon Dukes, Jr.	7.06	8th	1	No
Tues.	Men's 4x400 Relay	Lossenie Fofana/Gabriel Truehart/Trotman Kertes/Jacob Leigh	3:20.84	8th	1	No
Tues.	Men's Triple Jump	Ryan Nartey	13.87m / 45-6.25	8th	1	No

+ Personal Record

OTHER PRs FROM TUESDAY

• Kimmie Harding in 3000 meters (10:45.97)
• Matthew Morena in Mile (4:17.80)
• Ryan Nartey in Triple Jump (13.87m / 45-6.25)

UPDATED NJIT ALL-TIME AMERICA EAST INDOORS MEDAL COUNT (2022-24)

ATHLETE	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
Jacob Leigh		200m (2023), 4x400 Relay (2023)	High Jump (2023), High Jump (2022), 4x400 Relay (2022)	5
Maddie Stevens		400m (2024), 400m (2023)	4x400 Relay (2024)	3
Elisha Bugasch		4x400 Relay (2023)	500m (2023)	2
Grace Burke			DMR (2024), 4x400 Relay (2024)	2
Hayley Lucido			500m (2024), 4x400 Relay (2024)	2
Matt Bacchi		4x400 Relay (2023)	4x400 Relay (2022)	2
Eugene Graves III			4x400 Relay (2022)	1
Jaden Johnson			Triple Jump (2023)	1
Jenna Keith			DMR (2024)	1
Jordan Lee		4x400 Relay (2023)		1
Nadia Zhecheva			DMR (2024)	1
Sanai Jenkins			4x400 Relay (2024)	1
Sarah Van Ornum			DMR (2024)	1
Thomas Van Saders			4x400 Relay (2022)	1

WOMEN'S TEAM		YEAR	MEN'S TEAM
8th/9	39 pts	2024	9th/9	22 pts
9th/9	16 pts	2023	7th/9	51 pts
9th/9	11 pts	2022	8th	20 pts

NEXT UP
NJIT will return to Boston for the IC4A/ECAC Championships, scheduled for March 2-3.