NEW YORK, N.Y. – Spending Valentine's Day in the romantic backdrop of The Armory, the Manhattanville University track and field teams were back in action at the NYU D3 Invitational as the indoor season begins to wind down. The Valiants continue to have strong showings throughout the winter meets, with Head Coach Michael Cameron calling Saturday a "solid weekend across the board, but our women's program showed out today."

That effort was highlighted by the lone field event the Valiants competed in at the meet, the women's shot put. The two top throwers in the program's history held their own against some of the premiere competition in the northeast, as Jayda Birch (Queens, N.Y./Excelsior Preparatory) and Gabrielle Billetz (Clarksburg, Mass./Hoosac Valley) placed 8^th and 9^th, respectively, in the field of 23. A week removed from breaking the program's record in the event, Birch logged a distance of 11.64 meters. Billetz was not far off from her teammate, recording an 11.49 meter score.

While the throwers were doing their thing to open up the day's action, the 60-meter opened the day on the track side of things. Uzoma Nweze (Valley stream, Long Island/Valley Stream North High school) paced the three Valiant runners in the event, finishing in 8.87 seconds to take 29^th. Saage Palmer (Brooklyn, N.Y./Medgar Evers College Preparatory School) ran an 8.96 for 34^th, while Samiyah Samuels () clocked in at 9.16 seconds in the dash, good for 36^th.

The three were joined by Birch in the 200, with Birch leading the foursome with a split of 29.26 seconds to place 28^th. Nweze, Palmer and Samuels all finished within seven spots of each other, with Nweze placing 41^st (29.60), Palmer grabbing 44^th (29.85), and Samuels finishing 47^th (31.08).

All four dashers later teamed up for the 4x400, finishing the relay in 4:45.33 for 14^th.

Sam Delgado (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) was the final Valiant on the women's side in action on Saturday, placing 41^st in the mile with a time of 6:39.51.

Alex Carney (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon High School) took 2^nd place in the 60-meter open amongst 32 runners, finishing with a 7.40 split, just four-hundredths off of the winning time. Shai Graham (Bronx, N.Y./Bronx Theatre High School) took part in the 60-meter invitational prelims, running a 7.32 to place 32^nd.

Graham and Carney were next in action alongside Aka Udeagha (Rye, N.Y./Rye) and Christian Zita (Freehold, N.J./Colts Neck) in the 200 meter. Graham paced the pack with a 23.58 second split to finish 36^th. Udeagha (24.32) and Carney (24.42) finished back-to-back at 49^th and 50^th, while Zita's 26.54 was good for 64^th.

In the 400, Khalil Williams' (Menands, N.Y./Shaker) 54.14 time slotted him 39^th overall. Courtney Brown (Clarendon, Jamaica/Mount Vernon) was right on his tail, placing 40^th with a 54.59 time. Joey DeMilio (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) ran the 800 in 2:20.26 to round out the team's efforts.

Up Next
The Valiants get one last crack at indoor competition on Friday as Manhattanville will be represented at the Fasttrack Last Chance Invitational at Ocean Breeze.

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