2008 Woodie Awards
Track and Field Looks To Win Record Eleventh Straight MAAC Championship
Courtney Klein
Issue date: 12/6/06 Section: Sports
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Dan Mecca has been the head coach for the cross-country and track and field teams at Manhattan College for 13 seasons. Before succeeding head coach, Fred Dwyer, Mecca spent seven years as the field and events coach for the men's team. He has been the only head coach at Manhattan College since the men's and women's track and field programs were combined prior to the 1993-94 season.
Mecca is joined by three assistant coaches. They are Elliot Belin, Joe Ryan, and Sara Vergote.
The men's and women's track and field had a remarkable run at the MAAC Championship for the 2005-06 season. Over the past decade the team has won 37 out of a possible 38 championships. The 2005-06 triumph marks the ninth consecutive outdoor title for the men. This was the eighth outdoor title out of a possible nine for the women.
At this championship, Manhattan's Milan Jotanovic was named the Male Performer of the Meet for field events. Jotanovic was a sophomore shot putter, and has continually succeeded every season at Manhattan College since. He had set new meet records throughout his freshman year and broke his own meet records during the 2005-06 season. With an enormous mark of 19.30m, the 2006 NCAA Indoor All-American led a 1-2-3-4-6 Jasper finish in the event.
Now, Jotanovic is a 6-0 senior who will undoubtedly be a student-athlete to be aware of during the 2006-07 season. He will make his mark as a powerful shot putter as he has done during the past two seasons.
Darnell Douglas captured the gold in both the 200m and 400m by running his best meets as a Jasper. With a time of 21.81 for the 200m and a time of 48.45 for the 400m, Douglas was named the first athlete at Manhattan College to ever win both the men's 200m and 400m at the MAAC Championships.
Douglas is a 5-10 senior from Bethlehem, NY. Last year he made himself known by many. Now as a senior at Manhattan College, the 2006-07 season should be unbelievable for Douglas. He will surely try and make this his best season, for him it will be his last as a student-athlete at Manhattan College.
As for the women, Tiina Magi, a 5'10" senior from Estonia, won the triple jump at the 2005-06 MAAC Championships. This is considered her signature event winning by over 40 centimeters with a leap of 11.77m. She also took third in the pole vault. She scored in all four events she participated in during the championships.