Men's Track and Field Second After First Day of NEC Indoor Championships

The Central Connecticut men's indoor track and field team is currently second after the opening day of the Northeast Conference Indoor Championships on Friday. The Blue Devils accumulated 33 points through four scored events on the first day of competition and are just 4.5 points behind first-place Saint Francis U heading into the final day of competition on Saturday.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

The CCSU distance runners and high jumpers carried the Blue Devils on the first day of competition at the 2016 NEC Indoor Championships. Central scored 19 points in the 3,000 meter run and 13 more in high jump to power its way into second place on the standings after day one.

In the 3,000 meter run finals, the Blue Devils finished second, third and fourth to tally the 19 points earned in the event. Senior Matt Walker led the way running a personal-best time of 8:30.99 to finish second. Freshman Alex Norstrom was third with a huge collegiate-best time of 8:33.45 and junior Tyler Raymond was .01 seconds behind Norstrom in fourth at 8:33.46.

Senior Dashawn Putman recorded the best finish for the Blue Devils in the high jump with a second place finish after clearing a season-best 2.01 meters. His effort earned Central eight points. Sophomore Malik Gordon and freshman Amaziah Gadson combined to pick up five more points for CCSU in the high jump as they each cleared 1.90 meters to tie for fifth in the event.

The final point earned for the Blue Devils on the first day of competition came in the long jump as Mike Lang logged an eighth place finish for CCSU. The sophomore leapt to the 6.53 meter mark to earn the result.

After four scored events (out of 17) at the 2016 NEC Indoor Championships, Saint Francis U leads all teams with 37.5 points. The Blue Devils are second with 33 points and Sacred Heart is third with 24. Fairleigh Dickinson is currently fourth at 21.5 points followed by Mount St. Mary's (21), LIU Brooklyn (16), Wagner (2) and Bryant (1) to round out the eight-team field at the end of day one.

Several Blue Devils also qualified for Saturday's finals heats on the opening day of the NEC Championships. Junior Kendall Walker will run in both the 60 meter dash finals and 200 meter dash finals tomorrow after finishing inside the top-eight in both event's preliminary round. Walker clocked in a time of 7.11 in the 60 meter dash prelims and then registered a time of 22.39 in the 200 meter dash prelims.

A trio of Blue Devils advanced out of the preliminary round in the 60 meter hurdles. Freshmen Tyrik Henry and Edwin Alston along with sophomore Tyler Latham all will compete in the finals on Saturday. Henry had the fastest prelim time for CCSU with a personal-best time of 8.22, while Alston and Latham clocked in at 8.26 and 8.49, respectfully.

Junior Joe Gioielli and sophomore Austin Trainor both qualified for the finals in the men's mile for CCSU. Gioielli turned in a time of 4:21.38 and Trainor crossed the finish line at the 4:25.74 mark to advance. Gioielli will also compete in the 800 meter run final for the Blue Devils on Saturday after he clocked in a time of 1:55.22 in the preliminary round.

Lastly, Zach Andrews punched himself a ticket into the finals heat tomorrow in the 400 meter dash. The junior completed the race in 50.39 to qualify.

Day two of the 2016 NEC Indoor Championships are set to get underway at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday with the women's weight throw and the men's and women's triple jump. The first track event is scheduled to begin at approximately 10 a.m. with the men's 60 meter hurdles final.