Three Buccaneer athletes kicked off the ETSU track and field season on a positive note Saturday evening at the Appalachian Invitational located inside the Holmes Center.The ETSU men’s squad, who are fresh off winning both the indoor and outdoor track and Atlantic Sun Track and Field Championships a year ago, received first-place efforts from juniors Mike James and Ben Ronoh, along with senior Duronal Monal.

James and Monal are both coming of NCAA Regional appearances last season and won their respective events on Saturday. James took home the title in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.35, which just missed setting Delevantie Brown’s record of 7.32 set in 1995.

Meanwhile, Monal was busy making noise in the short sprints, as the Belle Glade, Fla., native took home the crown in the 55-meter dash. Monal won the event with a mark of 6.30.

As James and Monal were getting things done in the sprints, Ronoh and cousin Kenneth Rotich took care of business in the distance events.

Ronoh and Rotich placed one-two in the mile, as Ronoh won the title with a top time of 4:22.41. Ronoh edged out Rotich by six-hundredths of a second, as Rotich clocked in at 4:22.47.

In addition to Ronoh and Rotich, junior Manny Gonzalez also turned in a top-5 finish on Saturday (4:35.72).

On the women’s side, junior Jasmine Ingram led the charge for the Lady Bucs. Ingram took home first place in the 800-meter after clocking in at 2:22.48.

Joining Ingram in the event was fellow junior local standout Ashton Bishop. Bishop finished fourth overall in 2:26.51.

The Buccaneer track and field team won’t return to action until Jan. 8-9, when ETSU competes in the Clemson Invitational.

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