The Iona College men’s track team raced at the 2011 Penn Relays in Philadelphia on April 28.

The Gaels competed in the oldest meet in the United States that included the top high school, college and professional track athletes from the world.

Iona was led by a strong performance from junior Matt Bayley in the College Men’s 5,000 meter Championship. Bayley took fourth in a very competitive race, and Terefe Ejigu of Eastern Michigan took first in 14:00.00.

Soufiane Bouchikhi of Eastern Kentucky finished in 14:00.52 and Festus Kigen of TCU took third in 14:02.85.

“I was happy to run 14:06 at Penn and have a good race there after having an up and down season so far. Next week we have MAAC’s so I will be hoping for a good result there. The 5k at Penn was a confidence booster though, and shows the training is working, being only two seconds off,” Bayley said.

Bayley came up short, but was in contention to win the whole time and his fourth place time was an impressive 14:06.91.

Graduate student Mitch Goose was also in the race and took seventh in 14:15.03. Sophomore Craig Murphy was the other Gael in the race finishing 21st in 14:28.98.

In the College Men’s 3000-meter Steeplechase senior Josh Hibbs finished in sixth place crossing the line in 9:08.80, as Ty McCormack of Clemson took first in 9:01.10.

 Hibbs was the lone Gael competing in the steeplechase and represented Iona well. Hibbs was able to qualify for the IC4A Championships on May 13 and May 14 at Princeton University.

Junior Colin Culhane was 25th in 14:59.04 in the Olympic Development Men’s 5,000 meter run. Steve Hallinan of New Balance Pacers TC was first registering a time of 14:01.29

Head Coach Ricardo Santos said, “I was pleased with the races, but our focus remains in the coming weeks with the MAAC Championships, IC4A, ECAC and the NCAA Championships. The outlook is positive going into the championship season, although we have lost two of our top guys to injury, but we have to move on and others need to pick up the slack.”

The Gaels will compete in the MAAC Championships on May 7 and 8 at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. After that, the Gaels will compete in the NCAA East Regional Championships on May 26-28.

2011 Indoor 5k National Champion junior Leonard Korir will look to win a National Championship at the NCAA Championships. Korir is one of the hottest runners in the country and will look to bring another title back to Iona.