Trainor Tabbed Top-Track Athlete Once Again, Gill Named NEC Rookie of the Week

Along with their new personal records from the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton last weekend, Central Connecticut men's track and field members, junior Austin Trainor and freshman Jonathan Gill picked up a pair of Northeast Conference weekly awards as announced on Tuesday, April 25. Trainor was praised for the second week in a row as the NEC's Male Track Athlete of the Week. The league's front office noticed Gill as the top-rookie out of all week five contenders.

Trainor significantly lowered his league-leading steeple chase time for the second consecutive week and has back-to-back awards to show for his efforts. The CCSU veteran broke the 9-minute barrier for the first time in his career by completing the race in 8:58.04 at Princeton's Larry Ellis Invitational.

Trainor placed third overall at the meet and was the fastest collegiate finisher.  The performance came one week after the third-year Blue Devil ran 9:06.66 at the Mt. SAC Relays in Torrance, CA.

By virtue of the time he clocked at Princeton, Trainor has moved up to fourth place on the list of IC4A Championship qualifiers and sits 20th amongst NCAA Division I East Region steeple chasers.    

Gill propelled himself into second in the NEC 800m run rankings. The first-year Blue Devil ran the second-fastest time on the conference leader board this season, jumping ahead of teammate, senior Joe Gioielli, who won a silver medal at last year's NEC championship meet.

Contesting the event for the fourth time this spring, Gill crossed the line in 1:52.00 to win his heat at Princeton's Larry Ellis Invitational. Only Sacred Heart's Trevor Guerrera (1:50.27) owns a faster 800m time than Gill on the NEC performance list.  

The CCSU men's track and field team will next travel to Amherst, MA this Saturday, April 29 to compete at the UMass Pre-Conference meet.