Men's Indoor Track Takes Command at Yale on Saturday

The Central Connecticut men's indoor track and field team competed in dominating fashion at the 36^th Annual Yale Collegiate Invitational inside Coxe Cage in New Haven, CT on Saturday. The Blue Devils combined for nine first place finishes out of the 14-event meet. The Yale Collegiate Invitational also hosted Sacred Heart, LIU Post, Manhattan, St. Joseph's (LI), Lehman, Merrimack, Queensborough and CCNY.

Junior Akiel Smith picked up two of the nine first place finishes himself after besting the field in the 60 meter and 200 meter dash. In the 60 meter, Smith ran a personal best, IC4A qualifying time of 6.89 seconds at the top of the standings and sophomore Evan Walker also ran a new collegiate best time of 7.02 seconds to place second.

Smith led four other CCSU members in the 200 meter dash with another personal record, IC4A qualifying time of 22.16 seconds. Freshman Darius Wise ran a personal best mark of 23.03 in fifth place and fellow rookie Miles Fye-Moore was next in the standings in seventh place with a time of 23.22 seconds. Junior Julio Gil-Martinez finished in 13^th and freshman Trevor Glymph fell into 20^th place to round out the event for Central.

Junior Alex Norstrom won the mile with a time of 4:24.30 out of 16 other runners.

In his second straight first place finish in the 60 meter hurdles, junior Edwin Alston bested the field with a time of 8.21 seconds. The Blue Devils controlled the event with senior Tyler Latham placing second (8.39s) and junior Franklin Bartley Jr. earning third place (8.53s).

Arredondo, junior Adonys Langual, Gill and Trainor won the distance medley relay with a time of 10:25.68, an entire 1:05 seconds faster than CCNY in second place.

CCSU went one-two-three in the high jump, led by sophomore Amaziah Gadson with a personal best jump of 2.00 meters. Senior Sam Borecki was next with a personal record leap of 1.90 meters and Latham was third, tying his best college high jump with a mark of 1.85 meters.

Borecki won the pole vault, clearing the 4.65 meter mark and junior Jeremy Hopwood placed second with a jump of 4.35 meters.

In his first time competing collegiately in the 3,000 meter run, freshman David Kerns place third with a time of 9:20.52 for CCSU among two Manhattan freshmen in first and second place.

Central Connecticut's 4x400 meter relay team consisting of Latham, freshman Jon Gill, sophomore Jack St. Clair, Borecki and junior Matt Baum, placed third with a time of 3:30.65.

The Blue Devils finished first through third once again in the long jump, highlighted by a 6.62 meter first place jump from St. Clair. Junior Mike Lang placed second (6.39m) and sophomore Evan Walker was third (6.37m). Sophomores Jarred Creech and Kevorni Welsh finished sixth and seventh for CCSU.

The success continued for Central in the triple jump as sophomore Marquis Ward, Welsh, Gadson, and Glymph placed one-through-four, respectively. Ward jumped 13.90 meters to lead the four. Creech placed sixth in the event for CCSU.

Senior Austin Trainor and sophomore Julio Arredondo finished three-four in the 800 meter run for Central. Trainor tallied a collegiate best time of 1:57.78 and Arredondo was right behind at 2:00.10.

Baum finished fifth in the 400 meter dash with a personal best time of 51.71 seconds, and freshman Marcris Webb placed 14^th in his 400 meter debut with a time of 55.20 seconds.

Lang was the lone CCSU entry in the 500 meter run, where he took fourth overall with a time of 1:10.37.

In the throwing events, Godfrey placed third in the shot put with a personal best throw of 13.31 meters and sophomore Nana Kissi also tabbed a personal record with a 12.78 meter distance in sixth place. For the weight throw, Kissi and Godfrey packed on another collegiate best, Kissi throwing 12.50 meters good for fourth place and Godfrey throwing 9.59 meters.

The Central Connecticut men's track and field team will next compete at the Joe Donahue Invite on Saturday, January 18 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston, MA.