Latham Smashes School Record, Finishes Second in Heptathlon at Elm City Challenge
Sophomore Tyler Latham of the Central Connecticut men's indoor track and field team smashed the CCSU school record and finished second overall in the Heptathlon at the Elm City Challenge hosted by Southern Connecticut on Thursday and Friday in New Haven, CT.
Sophomore Tyler Latham of the Central Connecticut men's indoor track and field team smashed the CCSU school record and finished second overall in the heptathlon at the Elm City Challenge hosted by Southern Connecticut on Thursday and Friday in New Haven, CT. Latham completed the heptathlon on Friday afternoon adding two more personal best marks over the final three events to finish the contest with a total of five new PR's. He also scored a total of 5,019 points to obliterate the CCSU school record that he previously set last season at 4,555.
Day 2 (Friday):
Latham stood on top of the leaderboard heading into the final three events of the heptathlon on Friday and he opened up the final day of competition just as he had left off. Latham began the day sprinting to a second place finish in the 55 meter hurdles clocking in a time of 7.89, which was just three-tenths of a second off the leader. He followed that up with a new personal record in the pole vault, clearing 3.30 meters to tie for seventh place in the event.
The Mystic, CT product would then conclude the heptathlon by setting another personal record in the 1,000 meter run. Latham crossed the finish line with a time of 2:47.93 to earn a third place finish in the event and set his fifth new personal record at the meet. The finish also gave Latham 5,019 points over the seven events to set a new CCSU school record and earned him a second place overall finish.
Dartmouth's Nico Robinson won the heptathlon with a new meet record of 5,180 points. Latham was runner-up with 5,019 points and he finished ahead of Dartmouth's Ben Colello (4,868), Southern Connecticut's Ethan Chapman (4,853) and Dartmouth's Benjamin Ose (4,765) to round out the top-five.
Day 1 (Thursday):
Latham kicked off his 2015-16 indoor track and field season compiling a lifetime best day one score of 2,941 points over the first four events of the heptathlon to sit on the top of the leaderboard after the first day of action at the Elm City Challenge on Thursday. He didn't finish outside the top-five in any event, set three new personal best marks and ended the day strong by tying for first place in the high jump to catapult himself into the lead heading into the final day of competition.
The multi-event specialist began the heptathlon with a fifth place finish in the 55 meter dash. Latham clocked in a time of 6.83 to earn the result. He followed that up with a pair of third place finishes in the next two events, the long jump and the shot put. Latham tied his personal best mark leaping to the 6.76 meter mark in the long jump and launched the shot put 12.60 meters, also a new PR, to record the finishes. The Mystic, CT native then wrapped up day one with his best performance yet, clearing a personal best 1.97 meters in the high jump to finish in a tie for first place in the event and shoot into first place on the leaderboard.
Latham tops a field of 12 competitors in the heptathlon at the Elm City Challenge after day one. He is slightly ahead of Dartmouth's Nico Robinson who currently sits in second place with 2,900 points. Southern Connecticut's Tim Wunderlich is third (2,873) followed by Franklin Pierce's Vinny Biunno (2,749) and Dartmouth's Ben Colello (2,640) to round out the top-five.
