St. John Fisher College’s Eric Riley (Oneida/Wampsville), a freshman on the men’s track and field team, has been named the College’s Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending January 29, 2012.
Riley had a record-breaking performance on Saturday as he broke the Empire 8 Conference record for the men’s high jump. The Wampsville native reached a height of 1.98 meters, breaking the previous record of 1.93 meters set last season. The leap gave Riley a first-place finish, beating out 12 other competitors in the event.
With the top finish, Riley was named to the Empire 8 Conference’s First Team, as the representative for his respective event. Currently, the height places Riley tied for 18th in the nation in the event, and it is the fifth-highest height reached by any freshman this season.
Riley also competed in three other events at the meet. In the triple jump, he finished in seventh place with a distance of 12.96 meters in the event. The freshman also saw the same result in his third event, the long jump, where he hit a distance of 6.36 meters. The day was rounded out with an 11th place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.11 seconds.
Riley and the Cardinals will return to competition on Saturday, as both the men’s and women’s teams travel to Hamilton College for the Hamilton Invitational.
