Putman Breaks High Jump School Record, MTF Finishes Second at UMass

Senior Dashawn Putman broke the CCSU school record in the high jump and six Blue Devils finished in first place at the Minutemen Invitational on Saturday hosted by the University of Massachusetts at the UMass Track & Field Complex in Amherst, MA. Central ended up finishing in second place as a team at the meet after racking up 165.5 total points and were edged out by host team, UMass, who tallied 194 points for the victory.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Putman, who broke the CCSU school record in the high jump in the Blue Devils season-opener at the CCSU Track & Field Invite two weeks ago with a clearance of 2.08 meters, improved his school record height to 2.09 meters (6' 10.25") on Saturday at the Minutement Invitational. The clearance earned the senior a first place finish in the event.

In the 100 meter dash, senior Kendall Walker bolted to a third place finish crossing the finish line with a time of 10.92. The time was a new personal-best for the veteran in the event. He followed that up with a first place finish in the 200 meter dash logging a time of 22.33.

Senior Jamal Fruster posted the third first place finish of the meet for CCSU. Fruster snagged the top spot over 22 runners in the 400 meter run after crossing the finish line with a time of 48.65. Junior Zach Andrews also finished in the top-five in the event, running to a fifth place finish with a time of 49.83.

Defending NEC Rookie of the Week, freshman Richard Grudzwick, churned out another solid performance on Saturday recording a third place finish for the Blue Devils in the 800 meter run. The rookie registered a new personal-best time of 1:52.60 to record the result. Senior Malcolm Connor joined Grudzwick in the event and finished right behind him in fourth place, also logging a personal-best time of 1:52.62.

Sophomore Austin Trainor also turned in a new personal-best time on the afternoon, but in the 1,500 meter run. Trainor ran 3:59.51 to record the PR and grab fourth overall in the event.

A trio of freshmen Blue Devils claimed three of the top four spots in the men's 110 meter hurdles. Edwin Alston took gold, topping the field of 14 athletes with a collegiate-best time of 14.54. Closely behind were classmates Tyrik Henry and Quincy Sanchez also recording collegiate-best marks. Henry finished third sprinting to a time of 14.72 and Sanchez finished fourth with a time of 14.73.

In the 400 meter hurdles, freshmen Franklin Bartley and Matt Baum posted personal-best times en route to fifth and sixth place finishes in the event, respectively. Bartley crossed the finish line in 57.23, while Baum ran 57.99.

Sophomore Sam Borecki recorded a third place in the pole vault on Saturday. Borecki cleared 4.70 meters to record the finish. In the long jump, sophomore Mike Lang finished on the podium registering a third place finish after leaping to 6.57 meters.

Kwency Crittenden grabbed gold for the Blue Devils in the triple jump at the Minutemen Invitational. The junior leapt to the 13.76 meter mark to record the finish. Henry also competed in the event on Saturday and finished sixth with a mark of 12.94 meters.

In the throwing events, junior Zach Torro registered a fifth place finish in the shot put with a distance of 12.83 meters, while Therin Scott finished fourth in the discus and second in the hammer. Scott tossed the discus 37.67 meters and the hammer 41.36 meters.

NEC Field Athlete of the Week, junior Jeremy Willis, and sophomore Tyler Latham finished one-two in the javelin throw. Willis fired the implement 58.37 meters and Latham recorded a mark of 58.25 meters.

The CCSU men's outdoor track and field team will return to action next with the Larry Ellis Invitational hosted by Princeton University at Weaver Stadium in Princeton, NJ on April 22-23.