DETROIT -- The 2011-12 men's track and field season featured indoor and outdoor seasons. The season started on December 2 with an indoor meet at the Blue and Gold Invitational at Notre Dame and ended at the Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 4-6.
 
Outdoor Season
On the men's side, sophomore Eric Lewis advanced to the East Regional in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Jacksonville, FL continuing the streak of Titans to reach the NCAA Regional Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Since 2003 when the regional format was established for the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, the Detroit Titans have had a representative from either the men's or women's team compete every season.
 
Lewis finished 34th overall in the East Region, improving from his original seed of 43 entering the tournament. He set a new University of Detroit Mercy record with a hammer throw of 58.23m (191-00) at the Last Chance Meet at Grand Valley State on May 12 to advance to East Regional Championships as one of the top 48. It was his second school record of the season after setting an indoor season mark in the weight throw.
 
Also at the outdoor championships, the men's team saw a pair of runner up finishes from sophomore Lewis in the hammer throw and junior Taylor Hennrick in the decathlon. Lewis threw the hammer 55.77m (183-00) to place second and bring in eight big points for Detroit. Hennrick finished in second with 5, 772 points moving up from third after the end of day one.
 
Ja'Quan Patterson placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 6.71m (22-0.25) and posted four points for the Titans. He was also was third in the triple jump for six more Titan points with a jump of 13.93m (45-8.50). The triple jump was a season-best for Patterson and the second highest mark of his collegiate career.  In other field events, Justin Peguese came away with a 1.86m (6-1.25) in the high jump to come in sixth and score a point.
 
The 4x100m relay team came in fourth on the day at 42.22 as Hennrick, Charles Anthony, Steven Ivanics, and Vushaun Landrum set a new season-best. The 110m hurdles had Aviram Campbell topping the Titan group placing fifth at 14.68. Steven Ivanics was seventh at 14.70 and Vince Lefler established a new career best with a time of 14.85 finishing ninth.
 
Lefler was fourth in the 400m hurdles at 53.73 to bring in four points for the Titans. Hennrick (55.94) and Campbell (56.13) were sixth and seventh as Hennrick's finish brought Detroit a point and Campbell was just out of the scoring.
 
Indoor Season
The indoor track team featured new highs as the Titans went to 11 meets including the Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships that were hosted by Youngstown State on Feb. 25-26. UDM ended the indoor championships placing seventh out of eight on the women's side and the men finished seventh of seven.
 
Sophomore Lewis set his second school mark of the 2011-12 season winning the weight throw with a toss of 17.67m (57-11.75) at the Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships at Youngstown State on Feb. 25-26 giving UDM its best finish of the indoor championships.
 
Also at the conference championships, a pair of relay teams both had top-six finishes at the event. The 4x400m relay team finished Joe LaRocca (51.5), Vince Lefler (49.7), Anthony Donald (50.6) and Joe Raffin (49.4) combined for a time of 3:20.98 with the fifth best time. The Distance Medley Relay team of Bob Radlich, Raffin, Chris Smalley and George Holman as the quartet finished with a time of 10:32.59 in sixth place.
 
Other scorers in men's events came from the field as the long jump from junior Ja'Quan Patterson put him in a third place finish after a final jump of 7.09m. Patterson also was in the triple jump and set a new season-best at 13.88m which placed him fifth overall in the event.In the high jump, freshman Justin Peguese also had a fourth place finish with a leap of 1.91m,
 
Coach's Award Winners
Individuals were recognized with coach's awards and letters for the 2011-12 season as the full list of winners can be found below.
 
Indoor Track & Field
MVP - Eric Lewis
Student/Athlete Award - Bob Radlich
Coach's Award - Taylor Hennrick
Rookie Award - Justin Peguese
 
Outdoor Track & Field
MVP - Taylor Hennrick + Eric Lewis
Student/Athlete Award - Steven Ivanics
Coach's Award - Alex Harris
Rookie Award - Justin Peguese
Most Improved Award - George Holman
 
Varsity Letter Winners:
Four Years - (*5 year winner)- Aviram Campbell, Alex Harris, Vushaun Landrum, Matt Mahler
Three Years – Anthony Donald, Edwin Gay, Taylor Hennrick, Joe LaRocca, Vince Lefler, Ja'Quan Patterson, Bob Radlich, Joe Raffin, Chris Smalley
Two Years – Charles Anthony, Steven Ivanics, Eric Lewis, Martin Nelkie, Jeff Sherman, Jeffrey Senecal
One Year – Ylli Alla, Colin Creagh, Ryan Hofsess, Justin Peguese, Erik Westbrook