ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Led by second-year standout Cody Rome (Eagle, Idaho), the Navy men's track & field team rode the strength of its middle-distance and distance corps to an impressive quad meet victory over Rutgers, Temple and Maryland on Saturday afternoon at the Wesley A. Brown Field House.

Navy (7-1) won four events and registered 10 IC4A Championship qualifying-efforts (nine individual, one relay) to edge the second-place Scarlet Knights by a 3.5-point margin (155-151.5). The well-balanced and competitive meet saw the visiting Temple Owls, who were picked third in the preseason Atlantic-10 poll, finish just 12.5 points behind the Midshipmen in third place with 142.5 points, followed by ACC foe Maryland in fourth with 114 points to its credit.

"We had some breaks fall our way in terms of the scoring, but we are definitely happy to come away with the win," said Navy head coach Steve Cooksey. "I thought our middle distance and distance runners were really the catalyst for our success today. We have really taken our cue from them this season. Now it's our job to start putting forth some more strong efforts in other areas and give those guys some help.

"We need to start bringing more intensity into our meets. At times this year, we've looked great in practice and in our workouts, but we need to bring that same energy and effort into our competitions."

On the afternoon, nowhere was Navy's distance prowess more evident than in the mile, where the Midshipmen went 1-2-3 across the line and turned in four IC4A marks paced by Rome, who set a new Wesley A. Brown Field House standard in the event with a career-best 4:05.48.

Rome's mile time, which narrowly missed the NCAA provisional standard of 4:03.50, is the fastest in the Patriot League this season and is among the top efforts nationally in the event. Entering the weekend, only three faster mile times had been recorded (Indiana's Andrew Bayer - 4:03.64; Oregon's Kenny Klotz - 4:05.20; Butler's Rob Mullett - 4:05.32).

Dominic Della Pelle (So., Kennet Square, Pa.) was the runner-up behind Rome in 4:10.64, also under the previous Field House standard of 4:10.74, set nearly a year ago to the day by Georgetown's Sandy Roberts at the inaugural Wesley A. Brown Invitational on Jan. 24, 2009.

"Cody ran a great race today," said Cooksey. "Dominic set him up and was right there with him most of the way, before running out of gas a bit at the end."

Matthew De Villers (Jr., Menomonee Falls, Wis.) took third with a qualifying time of 4:12.70, while Kyle Satterwhite (Fr., Charlottesville, Va.) finished fifth with an IC4A clip of his own in 4:14.45. On the year, the Midshipmen have now had five different milers (Rome, Della Pelle, De Villers, Satterwhite and Andrew Hanko) qualify for March's IC4A Championship meet in Boston.

Navy also issued a strong showing in the 3,000-meter run, where Andrew Hanko (Jr., Montville, N.J.) and Ken Bunnell (So., St. Johnsbury, Vt.) went 1-2 with IC4A times of 8:18.66 and 8:20.70, respectively.

Matthew Evers (So., Bellevue, Neb.) finished just 0.25 seconds off the pace set by Rutgers' Monroe Kearns in a second-place, IC4A qualifying-effort of 1:52.68 in the 800. Meanwhile in the 500, David Ash (Jr., Williamston, Mich.) took third as one of three IC4A qualifiers in 1:05.04, the team's second-fastest time in the event this season. Rutgers' Aaron Younger was the winner of the 500 in 1:02.95, topping the previous Field House standard of 1:03.68, set by Army's Brandon Thurman at last year's Patriot League Championship.

In the final race of the day, the 4x800-meter relay, the Navy foursome of Ash, Rome, Della Pelle and Branden Roy (Barrington, N.H.) was victorious with an IC4A time of 7:51.01, a full seven seconds ahead of runner-up Rutgers.

For the fourth time in as many meets this winter, Navy's indoor team captain Mark Van Orden (Sr., Morris Plains, N.J.) prevailed in the 35-pound weight throw competition to highlighting Navy's efforts in the field events. Van Orden once again raised his IC4A qualifying-standard in the event and improved upon his top toss of 2009-10 with a winning heave of 59'9.5" (18.22 meters). He was one of three throwers to hit the IC4A clip in the event, joined by Temple's Robert Keogh (17.11m) and Grant West (16.89m). The Mids also received a solid effort from Chris Ricks (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio), who rounded out the four scorers with a career-long 53'8.5" (16.37 meters). Notably absent from the scoring group was Owls senior Bryce Buffaloe, the 30th ranked thrower nationally entering the week, who failed to record a distance.

With the annual Army-Navy dual (Feb. 6) looming and the championship portion of the schedule on the horizon, there was an encouraging sign for the Midshipmen in the shot put with the return of second-year thrower Chris Boniwell (So., San Diego, Calif.). Boniwell, who has been sidelined with a foot injury in the early-goings of 2009-10, emerged as one of the Patriot League's top newcomers last spring, claiming runner-up honors in the shot put at the outdoor league championship.

The watch for a new Field House standard in the high jump went by unfulfilled as the nation's second-ranked high jumper, returning All-American Dwight Barbiasz of Maryland, was a bit knicked up after tweaking his hip and bowed out of the competition without recording a height.

Navy will host the second annual Wesley A. Brown Invitational next Saturday afternoon, beginning at 11:00 am. The non-scored invitational meet will bring La Salle, William & Mary, Penn and Maryland to Annapolis for the second time in as many weekends.

Final Team Scores
1. Navy 155
2. Rutgers 151.5
3. Temple 142.5
4. Maryland 114

## Go Navy! ##