Staten Island, N.Y. - The Georgian Court University men's squad came to compete on Friday as three program records crumbled in the Lions' second-place performance at the 2018 East Coast Conference Indoor Championship Meet, hosted by the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.

The Lions registered 119 points, 50 behind eventual-champion, Saint Thomas Aquinas College (169), and placed ahead of the six other participating institutions.

"The men's and women's teams both performed very well," stated head coach Mike Murawski. "I credit the student-athletes and the coaching staff for having 25 season-bests this year! This means the coaches are training to have the athletes peak at the correct time of year and the athletes are stepping up their game!  It is exciting to see how our team competes – they just know when it is time to show up.  We did leave some points on the board, but I chalk that up to youth and stress of a four-and-a-half hour title meet. We are now going to take a couple of days to rest after the great performance and then shift our focus to the outdoor season."

On the track, Daniel Claudeo established a new-team high in the 500m Dash as the freshman placed third overall with a time of 1:07.09. Teammate Jake Thoms earned  a point with a sixth-place finish of 1:07.69, a time that would have also broken the previous team-best of 1:07.84. The duo also joined forces with Kennedy Omari and DaShawn Lamar-Baldwin to take fourth in the 4 X 400m Relay (3:27.03).

Thoms did find a way into the GCU annals in another event as he, along with Hussein Elmeshad, Tom Natoli and Jason Rodriguez, broke the team mark in the Distance Medley with a first-place time of 10:58.33. Elmeshad also contributed with a sixth-place showing in the 3,000m Run with his mark of 9:12.16.

Patrick Parr now owns the team record in the 5,000m Run as the senior sprinted to a fourth-place finish of 15:47.39. Other point providers on the track include: Lamar-Baldwin in the 400m Dash (4th-place, 51.35 seconds),  and Devin Martin (2nd, 8.64 seconds) and Michael Williams (4th, 8.95) in the 60m Hurdles.

The Lions were jumping for joy as GCU placed five different competitors in the High Jump, led by Cameron Wardle's first-place height of 1.93 meters. Lamar-Baldwin (3rd, 1.83m), Robert Hill (4th, 1.83m), Omari (5th, 1.78m) and Michael Suarez (6th, 1.78) also earned crucial points for the team.

Lamar-Baldwin snagged second in the Triple Jump (13.22m), followed by Martin at 13.21m (3rd), while Omari finished third in the Long Jump (6.67m). Wardle collected two points with a fifth-place jump of 6.53m.

Troy Bass and Leon White made some noise in the throws competition. White won the Weight Throw with a heave of 16.15m while taking fifth in the Shot Put at 12.70m. Bass gobbled up third-place in the Shot Put (12.82m), complemented by a fourth-place showing in the Weight Throw (13.38m).

Evan Boyce climbed to a second-place showing in the Pole Vault at 3.95m, followed by Daniel Smoke in the fifth spot (3.20m).

The Lions will now kick off the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference outdoor campaign on March 23-24 in the 23rd Annual Monmouth University Opener.