Gioielli, Borecki Honored With NEC Weekly Awards

Junior Joseph Gioielli and sophomore Sam Borecki of the Central Connecticut men's indoor track and field team both broke CCSU school records and were recognized with Northeast Conference weekly awards on Monday night after their individual performances this past Saturday at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston, MA. Gioielli was tabbed the NEC Track Co-Athlete of the Week and Borecki was named the NEC Field Athlete of the Week in a release by the conference front office.

Gioielli picked up his third NEC weekly award in the past four weeks of NEC indoor track and field action as he was tabbed the NEC Track Co-Athlete of the Week after setting the new CCSU standard in the men's mile. The junior raced to a 13th place finish out of 216 runners completing the mile run in 4:02.93, which bested a program record that Brian Biekert set at 4:06.05 back in 2014. The performance also currently gives the Wolcott, CT native the 27th fastest mile time amongst Division I national leaders, qualifies him to compete in the event at the New England and IC4A Championships and was more than five seconds faster than the NEC Indoor Championship meet record (4:08.53) set in 2001.

Borecki cleared 4.90 meters (16' 0.75") in the pole vault to smash a CCSU school record that had stood since 1969 on his way to receiving his second NEC Field Athlete of the Week honor so far this indoor season. The previous best CCSU indoor pole vault mark was set at 15' 4" by Al Berardi. The clearance earned Borecki a bronze medal in the event at the John Thomas Terrier Classic and automatically qualified him for the IC4A Championships in March. His new personal best mark is also two centimeters greater than the NEC Indoor Championship meet record (4.88 meters) as the sophomore now owns the top-three performances by a NEC pole vaulter so far this year.

Gioielli, Borecki and the rest of the CCSU men's indoor track and field team will return to action next as they travel to Kingston, RI on Saturday, Feb. 6 to compete in the Coaches Tribute Meet inside Mackal Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Rhode Island.