STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's and women's track & field teams were in action this afternoon, Friday, Dec. 10, at the Seahawk Shootout, hosted by Wagner College at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. This was the second time the Gothic Knights have competed indoors for the 2021-22 season, after taking part in the FastTrack Season Opener, also hosted at Ocean Breeze last Friday, Dec. 3.

The Knights were again led by senior captain Dave Etienne (Jersey City, N.J./Dickinson) and another stellar performance. Etienne followed up his personal record in the 500m last week, with a third-place finish out of 63 competitors in the 300m dash with a 34.79 finish. This was another PR for Etienne, who also shattered the previous program record from 1981. He finished behind two top tier Division I opponents from the University of Pennsylvania and Monmouth University, but 46 of the runners he beat were also from Division I or II programs.

On the women's side, junior Tiffany Ortiz (Jersey City, N.J./University Academy Charter) continued her early success for the Green and Gold with an 18th-place finish out of 44 runners in the 600m race, finishing with a time of 1:46.39. Her time was also a PR and claimed another program record, previously set in 2003. Her time was better than 19 Division I and II competitors.

There was no team scoring on the day and overall, the Knights competed in eight different events for the men's and women's.

Some other top performers for Jersey City on the men's side came in the one mile and the 3000m run. Sophomore Elvis Rosas (West New York, N.J./Memorial) came up with his best career finish in the one mile indoor with a time 4:59.98 to capture 25th place. Freshman Vladimir Pericles (Elizabeth, N.J./Thomas Edison Academy) finished right behind Rosas, notching a time of 5:03.85. In the 3000m, the Green and Gold had two finishers in the top-20. Sophomore Julius Libutsi (Jersey City, N.J./William L. Dickinson) placed 19th with a time of 9:34.39 and right after him was fellow Knight, junior Jamie Tlatelpa in 20th place at 9:36.42. 

For the women's side, senior April Gutierrez (Jersey City, N.J./Dickinson) finished in 16th place in the 3000m with a time of 12:26.48. Another key performance for the women's side came from the shot-put event, with a throw of 8.36m coming from sophomore Shantel Worrell (Jersey City, N.J./Snyder). Worrell finished in 26th place and increased her mark from last week by 0.20m. 

The squad takes the rest of the semester and Holiday Break off before returning to the track after the New Year for the St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartan Invite, hosted again at Ocean Breeze to open up 2022.