St. Thomas Aquinas College's St. Jacob Diodonet and Rickssen Opont were named the East Coast Conference Men's Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week respectively on Monday, after the Spartans three meets during the month of March, including the Nove Southeastern University Shark Invitational, the University of Miami Hurricane Invitational and Lafayette College 8-Way.
On the track, Diodonet opened the season with a bang when he ran a new personal best and hit an NCAA provisional mark with a time of 21.30 in the 200m at the University of Miami Hurricane Invitational. At the same meet, he also was part of the 4x100 team to break the school record by running 42.19. In addition, Diodonet added first place finishes in the 200m (21.77) and 400m (47.85) at the Nova Shark Invitational and also in the 100m (10.80) at the Lafayette 8-Way Meet.
In the field events, Opont won the shot put, discus, and hammer throw at the Lafayette 8-Way Meet. He threw a NCAA provisional qualifier in the shot put with a throw of 16.22m. He also performed well in the Spartans' first two meets of the year in Florida. He came in second in both the shot put and discus at the Nova Shark Invite and then finished in ninth in the shot put and six in the hammer at the University of Miami Hurricane Invitational.
The Spartans will next compete on Saturday, April 14th at the Rider University Invitational in Lawrenceville, NJ.