Watkins Breaks Record in Season Opener
Junior Jordan Watkins bested his own program record in the 60m hurdle event Saturday.
The Central Connecticut men's track and field team opened its indoor season at Boston University on Saturday. Junior Jordan Watkins broke the CCSU record in the 60 meter hurdle event, clocking a time of 8.27 seconds.
Watkins set the previous 60m hurdle record last season with his time of 8.39.
Central tallied five top-five performances on Saturday. Watkins was the only Blue Devil to take first but was joined at the top by junior Michael Ficorilli who claimed third in the weight throw, registering a career-best distance of 14.54 meters. He also placed fifth out of 13 competitors in the shot put, throwing for 13.31 meters.
Junior Jamal Fruster led CCSU in the 400m dash, crossing the finish line in 49.46 seconds. He was followed by junior Ryan Budd (13th, 50.81), freshman Tommy Pytel (14th, 50.88) and junior Chris Savvidou (16th, 52.07).
In the triple jump, freshman Garrett Shaw placed fifth with a score of 13.35 meters. He was followed by sophomore Chris Sudol in seventh with 12.71. The pair also competed in the long jump. Sudol placed eighth (5.86m) followed by Shaw (9th, 5.81m).
Freshman Kendall Walker, who competed for CCSU during the 2013 outdoor season, finished seventh in the 60m dash with his time of 7.25 seconds.
Freshman Andrew Weiler also performed well, clocking a time of 1:59.97 in the 800m run, good for eighth out of 19 runners.
Central also entered squads in the 4x400m relay competition. Savvidou and Watkins, along with sophomore Brian Beckwith and freshman Dan Baum, placed eighth with their time of 3:29.29. They were followed in ninth by Pytel, Budd, Walker and Fruster who crossed the finish line in 3:29.49.
Other notable performances for CCSU included Fruster (22.92) and Walker (22.97) who placed 10th and 14th, respectively in the 200m dash. In the one mile run, junior Joey Farrington raced a time of 4:31.98 for 15th place out of 27 competitors. He was followed by sophomore Malcolm Conner in 19th (4:44.00).
Beckwith placed 14th out of 20 in the 500m dash with his time of 1:08.67.
Central completed the day in fifth place overall, tallying 49 points. Northeastern University won the meet with 150 points, followed by UMASS-Lowell (132), Boston University (58) and Boston College (51). Bryant (25) and Marist (20) finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
The Blue Devils will have almost a month to prepare for their next meet. CCSU will travel to New Haven, CT for the Yale Invitational on Jan. 11.