MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Manhattanville University track & field teams opened the outdoor season on Saturday, competing at Wesleyan University's Swanson Open. In what Head Coach Michael Cameron referred to as one of the best season-opening efforts he had seen from his teams while at Manhattanville, the Valiants continued their great performances from the indoor season to begin the spring campaign on the right foot.

One of the leading performances on the women's side came from sophomore Gabrielle Billetz (Clarksburg, Mass./Hoosac Valley) who showed out in her throwing events. Billetz set a new personal best in the shot put with a throw of 11.64 meters and came within half a meter of her PB in the discus, recording a distance of 36.24 meters on Saturday. She took second place overall in both events at the Swanson Open.

On the men's side, Joey DeMilio (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) knocked ten seconds off his top time in the 1500, crossing the line in 4:14.88 for a new personal best and claiming tenth overall in the field of 50.

The Valiant men nabbed four other top-ten placements on the day. Courtney Brown (Clarendon, Jamaica/Mount Vernon) and Zach Garrant (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill High School) both broke the top-ten in the 400-meter hurdles, placing sixth (59.59) and ninth (1:02.22), respectively. Garrant also placed eighth in the high jump after clearing 1.65 meters, while Manhattanville's 4x100 relay of Curtis Staie (Adams, N.Y./South Jefferson), Brown, Shai Graham (Bronx, N.Y./Bronx Theatre High School) and Luca Perez (Somers, N.Y./Somers) finished the race in 45.53 seconds to claim fifth.

Manhattanville was represented in six other events by its men's team. Staie ran the 100-meter with a time of 11.89 seconds to place 31^st, while Graham took 13^th in the 200-meter with a 23.14 second split. Daniel Baldessarre (Highland Mills, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) ran the 3000-meter and finished in 10:30.02, good for 30^th overall.

After running the relay, Graham and Perez competed in the long jump. Graham took 23^rd with a leap of 5.41 meters, while Perez recorded a jump of 5.00 meters even to place 27^th.

Matt Boggi (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) competed in a pair of throws for the men, placing 14^th in the discus with a 35.13 meter showing, while placing 19^th in the shot put with a distance of 11.47 meters.

The trio of Jennifer Schmidt, Uzoma Nweze () and Alicia Bibi (Marlborough, Mass./Marlborough) each competed in a pair of dashes as the Valiant women's track competitors. In the 100-meter, Schmidt placed 20^th (14.03 seconds), while Nweze took 22^nd (14.13) and Bibi placed 27^th (14.35). The three returned to action for the 200-meter race, with Schmidt once again pacing the group with a time of 29.37 seconds to take 44^th. Nweze crossed in 30.84 seconds, good for 55^th, while Bibi was just behind her in 56^th with a time of 30.92.

Florence Harrison (Melbourne, Australia/Balwyn High School) and Gigi Alvero (Yonkers, N.Y./St. Vincent Ferrer) joined Billetz in the shot put while also competing individually in their own throwing events. Harrison placed 22^nd in the shot put with an 8.01 meter throw before placing 24^th in the hammer with a mark of 23.27 meters. Alvero took 25^th in the shot put with her 7.63 meter score and took 18^th in the javelin, scoring a distance of 23.67 meters.

Up Next
The Valiants head to Ramapo next weekend to compete in the two-day Roadrunner Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

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