West Babylon, N.Y. - On Monday, the East Coast Conference released its annual preseason coaches poll for Men's and Women's Track & Field. The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's program has been selected to finish sixth, while the women's squad has been slotted to finish ninth, in a poll conducted among the conference's coaches. In addition, STAC's Emmanuel Mena Jimenez was tabbed as the ECC Men's Indoor Track & Field Preseason Athlete of the Year.
Mena Jimenez is coming off of a campaign in which he won the weight throw (20.22m/66' 4 1/4”) and placed third in the shot put (14.75m/48' 4 3/4”) at last year’s ECC indoor meet and went on to sweep gold in the shot put (15.18m/49' 9 3/4”), discus (53.92m/176' 11”), and hammer throw (53.60m/175' 10”) at the ECC outdoor meet. The graduate student from West Haverstraw, New York also punched his ticket to both the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor National Championship meets in 2023-24, where he placed 15th (Weight Throw) and 12th (Discus) respectively.
In 2023-2024, the Spartan men finished sixth, while the women took ninth at the ECC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
On the men's side; Prince Alvarado, Jayden Bennermon, Christopher Cajamarca, Sebastian Cherry, John Ciuffo, Ian Forsyth, Kieran Keenan, Kyle Koenig, Gavin Kopf, Adam Lenn, Leelan Maxwell, Emmanual Mena Jimenez, Charlie Moore, James Polisena, Tyler Robinson and Ethan Zweigbaum all return from last year's team.
18 new faces join a mostly veteran core, as freshman Carl Auguste (Spring Valley, N.Y.), Kmani Bledman (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Aaron Cruz (Bergenfield, N.J.), Stephanie Desert (Spring Valley, N.Y.), Wilky Eliezer (Thiells, N.Y.), Colin Graham (Dumont, N.J.), Alexander Kemlage (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), Danny Lu (Dumont, N.J.), Emari Nicholson (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Kaleb Rayle (Northfield, Ohio), Luke Skardinski (Camillus, N.Y.), Jared Troncoso (Garnerville, N.Y.), Noely Vargas (Stony Point, N.Y.), Jayderr Whilhite (Syracuse, N.Y.), sophomore Tanaireo Nelson, junior Pedro Mulero Martinez, senior Ryan Kenny and graduate student Dan Smith arrive to help bolster the roster in multiple events.
Meanwhile, the women's squad features 13 returners, including Ciara Doyle, Ciara Durcan, Isabella Farino-Esposito, Samantha Frisbee, Aalianne Gilbert, Nicole Gysin, Kristen Kennedy, Alexis Krause, Zoe Merryman, Emma Neil, Alana Rider, Emily Strunk and Veronica Valentik.
Freshmen Diamond Brown (Southampton, N.Y.), Dayna Jimenez (Bronx, N.Y.), Yulessa Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Sophonie Michel (Haverstraw, N.Y.), India Newman (White Plains, N.Y.), Ayanie Thomas (Paramus, N.J.) and Yulis Vidal (Garnerville, N.Y.) round out an experienced roster, ready to battle conference and regional foes.
Head Coach Ray Kondracki returns for his sixth season at the helm of the Spartans. Assistant coaches Julie Gangemi, Vincent Vazquez, Kevin Bigelow, Dante Brown and Jason Burdick also return for the 2024-25 season. Shulton Whitley and Giulia Adler Duitz join the coaching staff for the upcoming campaign, as he will help mentor and teach hurdlers and jumpers.
St. Thomas Aquinas College will open the new season at the FastTrack Season Opener on Friday, December 6 (1:00 p.m.) at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island, New York.
2024-25 ECC Men's Indoor Track & Field Preseason Poll
1. Roberts Wesleyan - 72 points (4 first-place votes)
2. Holy Family - 71 points (3 first-place votes)
3. Georgian Court - 60 points (1 first-place vote)
4. Felician - 52 points (1 first-place vote)
5. Molloy - 46 points
6. St. Thomas Aquinas - 38 points
7. Daemen - 27 points
8. Queens - 22 points
9. Staten Island - 17 points
ECC Preseason Co-Athletes of the Year: Devin Jones, Felician and Emmannuel Mena Jimenez, St. Thomas Aquinas
2024-25 ECC Women's Indoor Track & Field Preseason Poll
T-1. District of Columbia - 109 points (4 first-place votes)
T-1. Felician - 109 points (5 first-place votes)
3. Roberts Wesleyan - 98 points (1 first-place vote)
4. Holy Family - 87 points
5. Georgian Court - 71 points (1 first-place vote)
6. D’Youville - 55 points
7. Daemen - 54 points
8. Molloy - 51 points
9. St. Thomas Aquinas - 44 points
10. Queens - 26 points
11. Staten Island - 22 points
ECC Preseason Co-Athletes of the Year: Kayla Cooper, District of Columbia and Chantoya Thomas, Felician