

CHICAGO – Finishing first in three separate events at the 2013 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on April 20, sophomore John Stancato (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) of the men's track and field team was selected as the World Hyundai-Saint Xavier April Athlete of the Month when the honor was announced Wednesday. Stancato, a biology (pre-medicine) major at SXU, also set a new conference record with a time of 10.99 seconds in the 100-meter dash at the conference meet in addition to winning the 200-meter dash (22.58 seconds) and anchoring the conference champion 4x400 meter relay team. He was the highest individual point scorer at the CCAC Championships accounting for 38 of SXU's points at the meet.

Hillsdale, Mich. – The Saint Xavier University men's track team took a small contingent of runners to the prestigious Gina Relays at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., over the weekend and the results were highly successful. The weekend started off last Thursday evening with freshman Eric Hancock (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka) finishing fourth overall in the 10,000-meter run in a personal-best time of 32:20. On Friday, sophomore Matt Krakowski (Alsip, Ill./Marist) took seventh overall in the 400-meter dash in a personal-best 50.90. Finally on Saturday, sophomore John Stancato (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) capped another successful weekend by taking fourth-place overall in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.98 seconds and then finishing sixth in the 200-meter dash in 22.33 seconds.

Joliet, Ill. – Highlighted by a pair of first-place finishes by sophomore John Stancato (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central), the Saint Xavier University men's track team finished fourth overall at the third annual Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Championships held at Memorial Stadium this past Saturday in Joliet, Ill. The Cougars claimed the No. 4 spot in the eight-team meet with 78 points. Stancato blazed his way to the top spot in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, winning the shorter sprint in a conference record time of 10.99 seconds and coming back in the 200 with a winning time of 22.58 seconds. Amazingly, Stancato's day was far from complete. He also finished second in the javelin throw (40.71m), third overall in the pole vault (3.20m), anchored the third-place 4x100 meter relay team (44.74) and then finished the day by anchoring the conference champion 4x400 relay team (3:28.03).

Romeoville, Ill. – Braving the windy and cold conditions, the Saint Xavier University men's track team opened its 2013 outdoor season at the Chicagoland Championships hosted by Lewis University this past weekend. On Friday night, the longer distance runs and junior Brian Corcoran (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) started the evening with a 10th place finish in the 5K (5000 meters) with a time of 15:20. He was followed by a Cougar trio in the 10K (10000 meters) as junior Chris Shellenberger (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) took fifth overall (32:41) with junior Chris Sarna (Palos Park, Ill./Stagg) and freshman Eric Hancock (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka) posting seventh (32:57) and eighth place finishes (32:58), respectively.

CHICAGO - The Saint Xavier University men's track team had a busy weekend splitting the team over two meets with one group participating at the Grand Valley State University Tune-Up in Allendale, Mich., last Friday and the rest of the squad heading to University of Chicago's Margaret Bradley Classic Saturday. The Cougar runners had resounding success qualifying two individual runners for the 2013 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships and achieving season-best times for three of the runners. Friday's highlights included junior Shane Kenney (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) qualifying in the 800-meter run with an outstanding time 1:56.51 besting the NAIA qualifying mark of 1:56.65, while junior Brian Corcoran (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) added to his qualifying list by running a national qualifying time of 4:21.8 in the mile run. Sophomore John Stancato (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) notched a solid 22.57 in the 200-meter dash as well.

Naperville, Ill. - The Saint Xavier University men's track team ran at the Chicagoland Indoor Track Championships at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., this past weekend. The Cougars had an impressive start to the meet with the team's Distance Medley Relay (DMR) squad of freshman Eric Hancock (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka), sophomore John Stancato (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central), junior Shane Kenney (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) and junior Brian Corcoran (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) finishing fourth overall in a school record time of 10:19.70 and met the NAIA's "A" standard qualifying time for the 2013 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships held on Thursday, February 28, to Saturday, March 2, at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. In addition, Corcoran took fifth overall in the 800-meter run with a "B" standard qualifying time of 1.58.80.