Men's Track Kicks off 2018 Outdoor Season at Bryant
Norstrom and Welsh earned first place victories for CCSU.
Junior Alex Norstrom and sophomore Kevorni Welsh led the Central Connecticut men's outdoor track and field team on Saturday at its season-opening meet at Bryant's Black & Gold Invitational with a pair of first place finishes. Norstrom clocked in at 14:51.43 in the 5,000 meter run, an entire 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up Joseph Maguire (URI, 15:01.46). Welsh won the triple jump with a leap of 13.79m against -0.5 wind.
The reigning 2018 NEC Indoor High Jump Champion, sophomore Marquis Ward took second to Brown's Ryan Laudermilk in a three-way jump-off at 1.97 meters. Welsh placed ninth with a mark of 1.82 meters.
Ward also placed fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 13.19 meters.
Senior Austin Trainor took runner-up in the 1,500 meter run to Siena's Evans Kibet, crossing the finish line at 3:53.56. Junior Adonys Langual was the 25th finisher with a mark of 4:17.21.
Junior Quincy Sanchez had a solid showing in the 110 meter hurdles, finishing in third place with a time of 14. 88 seconds. In his first time competing in the event, junior Franklin Bartley Jr. placed 10th with a time of 15. 48 seconds.
Senior Sam Borecki finished just ahead of junior Jeremy Hopwood in the pole vault, taking third and fourth place respectively. Borecki scored six points in a jump-off at 4.55 meters and Hopwood cleared 4.40 meters. Rookie Gordon Perrett took eighth with a mark of 3.65 meters.
The Blue Devils saw three athletes in the 100 meter dash, all of which finished in the top-15 out of 51 total sprinters. Leading the trio was rookie Darius Wise who placed seventh with a time of 11. 27 seconds. Next in was senior Darryn Horner in his first season with the track and field team, placing ninth with a time of 11. 32 seconds. Freshman Miles Fye-Moore took 13th with a time of 11. 40 seconds.
Sophomore Jack St. Clair was fourth finisher in the long jump with a leap of 6.41 meters and classmate Jarred Creech placed 10th with a mark of 6.08 meters.
Fye-Moore placed sixth in the 200 meter dash for Central with a time of 22.77 seconds.
Sophomore Richard Grudzwick and Trainor finished the 800 meter run on the heels of each other, with Grudzwick taking 10th place (1:58.86) and Trainor claiming 11th place (1:59.38).
Senior Tyler Latham placed third in the 400 meter hurdles with a tie of 55.85 seconds. Bartley Jr. also competed in the event and ended with a time of 57.08. Latham threw 56.71 meters, good for seventh place in the javelin and sophomore Nana Kissi hit the 46.44 meter mark.
The Blue Devil 4x400 meter relay team of Grudzwick, Latham, Fye-Moore and St. Clair placed fourth overall with a time of 3:27.94.
Central had one athlete in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, senior Kyle Welch that ran a time of 10:38.62. Welch also took 23rd in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:16.85.
Freshman Jack Godfrey threw for 35.28 in the discus and Kissi hit the 32.57 meter mark.
The Central Connecticut track and field team will compete against next weekend at the Dewitt Cuyler Athletic Complex at Yale in New Haven, CT for the Mark Young Invitational.