STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Penn State Harrisburg's men's and women's track & field teams were led by championship efforts from Sammi Aromin and Tatyana Gibson at the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Monday evening, Feb. 21.
In the first conference championship event of their collegiate careers, Aromin and Gibson each captured their first conference titles, with Aromin winning gold in the women's 5,000m and Gibson crossing the line first in the 800m.
Aromin was dominant in the 5,000m, jumping out to a sizable lead on the opening lap of the 25-lap event before stretching her advantage and pulling away for good. The freshman never let up and eventually won the race by nearly 30 seconds over runner-up Lyndsay Boyd from Rowan thanks to her effort of 18:47.79. In addition to capturing the NJAC Title and earning all-conference first-team honors, Aromin broke her own program record in the event.
In the 800m, Gibson bided her time in second place for most of the race before erasing a 10-plus meter gap, completing the last-lap pass of TCNJ's Allison Uhl with 200 meters to go, and holding off the presumptive favorite in the final stretch to secure the NJAC Championship in thrilling fashion behind a time of 2:15.62. The freshman captured first-team all-conference recognition and reset her own program record in the process.
Gibson and Aromin also led off and anchored the women's distance medley relay, respectively, teaming with Leah Gray and Abagail Marquardt to claim a fourth-place finish in the event thanks to a combined effort of 13:50.51. The foursome's time earned the Blue & White five points and shattered the program's previous DMR record by nearly a full minute.
A pair of women's jumpers in Starr Williams and Nofisat Aina also earned valuable points for the Lions thanks to their performances in the pit. Williams earned a top-five finish in the triple jump, with her top leap of 10.38 meters securing her a share of fifth-place in the event. Aina added a top-10 finish of her own, as her best bound of 4.87 meters proving strong enough for eighth place.
On the men's side, Alex White proved the team's top point-getter, as he accounted for 10 total on the night. In the long jump, his top bound of 6.76 meters was good enough to earn him a fourth-place finish, while his best leap of 1.90 meters in the high jump also secured him fourth place. Fellow jumper Scott Brosius earned a point for his effort in the triple jump, as his top mark of 12.28 meters in the event secured him an eighth-place finish.
Elsewhere for the men, Sean Hamby narrowly missed out on points behind a ninth-place effort in the 800m, while throwers Angad Bhullar and Comlan Acolitse each etching their names in the top three of the program's record book, with Bhullar heaving a top throw of 11.90 meters in the shot put and Acolitse posting a top toss of 11.78 meters in the weight throw.
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2022 NJAC Indoor All-Conference Honors
WOMEN
First Team
Sammi Aromin (5,000m*)
Tatyana Gibson (800m*)
* NJAC Champion