NEW YORK (2/23/09) - The Kean University men's track and field team captured four individual titles and two Cougars qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships en-route to a fourth-place finish at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Monday afternoon. The women's team finished seventh overall, and both teams combined to break six school records in the meet. Rookie Aaron Lucas (Union, N.J.) won a pair of events, as he was named the NJAC Rookie of the Year on the men's side. Senior Jason Staggers (Jackson, N.J.) also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships to capture the triple jump title, while sophomore John Badala (Scotch Plains, N.J.) won the shot put.

Lucas provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in the high jump, and narrowly missed qualifying in the long jump as he captured both indoor championship titles. Lucas cleared a school-record 2.02 meters to win the high jump in his first NJAC championships.

In the long jump, Lucas and Staggers (pictured right) each shattered the school-record that they shared, as Lucas placed first with a leap of 6.93 meters and Staggers finished third with a jump of 6.89 meters. Lucas fell just three millimeters shy of provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships in a second event.

Staggers captured the triple jump title on his final jump, as he had a leap of 14.08 meters to surpass NCAA Division III provisional qualifying standards and shatter his own school record. He added a fifth-place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.87 meters.

Badala (pictured left) broke the shot put record, as he won the NJAC title with a throw of 14.73 meters.

Junior Jean Leblanc (East Orange, N.J.) placed sixth in 55-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 6.67 seconds, while senior Seun Oyelaja (Lagos, Nigeria) was seventh in the 200-meter dash in 23.00 seconds.
In the 800-meter run, senior Dwayne Dobbins (Mount Holly, N.J.) was eighth in 2:00.89.

The relay squad of junior Matt Gough (Jefferson, N.J.), Leblanc, sophomore Chris Pegeron (Plainfield, N.J.) and Oyelaja broke the school record in the 800-meter relay, placing second in 1:31.57.

In the distance medley relay, freshman Raymond Clinkscale (Edison, N.J.), sophomore Rolland Ying (East Brunswick, N.J.), freshman Kevin Paiva (Union, N.J.) and sophomore Kevin Scribner (Patchogue, N.Y.) teamed up to finish fifth in a time of 11:59.82.

Gough, Oyelaja, Staggers and senior Reggie James (Willingboro, N.J.) placed sixth in the 1600-meter relay in 3:33.84, while junior Paterson Pacquiot (Elizabeth, N.J.), Paiva, Ying and senior Ezra Schwartz (Bloomfield, N.J.) placed sixth in the 3200-meter relay in a time of 8:53.47.

In the women's meet, senior Sherene Stephens (Orange, N.J.) (pictured left) had a solid afternoon, placing second in the triple jump, as she broke her own school record and qualified for the ECAC Indoor Championships with a leap of 10.96 meters. She also added an eighth place finish in the 55-meter hurdles (9.99).

Rookie Jamie Sacco (Park Ridge, N.J.) added a fourth place finish in the high jump (1.53 meters).

A pair of Cougars placed in the pole vault, as senior Erin Jones (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) was fifth after clearing 2.95 meters. Rookie Maria Moya (Matawan, N.J.) tied for eighth place with a leap of 2.80 meters.

On the track, the 800-meter relay team of senior Demeka Pressley (Trenton, N.J.), sophomore Asha Winters (Ewing, N.J.), sophomore Marisa Petrone (Jefferson Twp., N.J.) and freshman Tinisha Mansaray (Franklin Twp., N.J.) placed fifth in a ECAC qualifying time of 1:50.43.