Men's Track Earns Five Medals, Ranks Second Heading Into Sunday's NEC Finals
CCSU earned a total of 54 points on Saturday at the Mount.
The Central Connecticut men's track & field team collected a total of 54 points and won five medals on the first day of the 2018 Northeast Conference Championships at Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, MD. The Blue Devils stand in second place in the overall team standings behind the Mountaineers (69).
CCSU qualified four for Sunday's finals.
Sophomore Roberto Piotto kicked off day one of the 2018 NEC championship meet with a silver medal performance in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 31:18.22. On the heels of the underclassman was junior Alex Norstrom who won bronze with a time of 31:18.84. The duo gave CCSU 14 points in the first event.
The 2018 long jump silver and bronze medal belonged to Central Connecticut as they went 2-3-4, breaking three personal records in the process. Sophomore Marquis Ward placed second with a mark of 7.14 meters and classmate Kevorni Welsh took third with 7.00 meters. Sophomore Jack St. Clair was fourth with a jump of 6.93 meters.
The CCSU 4x800 meter relay team won silver with a time of 7:49.69 to score eight points for CCSU.
Senior Tyler Latham was eighth in the long jump (6.63m), sophomore Jarred Creech was 10th (6.49m) and sophomore Evan Walker was 15th (6.14m).
CCSU junior Jeremy Hopwood placed fourth in the pole vault final with a mark of 4.60 meters. Senior Sam Borecki finished in sixth placed with a height of 4.50 meters.
Junior KJ Smith led CCSU in discus with a mark of 38.41 meters. Sophomore Nana Kissi finished in 16th placed with a throw of 32.68 meters. Freshmen Jack Godfrey and Christian Heyward placed 17th and 18th respectively.
Kissi placed fifth in the shot put to lead CCSU with a throw of 13.89 meters. Godfrey was ninth with a mark of 13.37 meters and Smith was 11th with a distance of 13.20 meters.
Sophomore Julio Arredondo qualified for Central in the 1,500 meter run prelims with a time of 4:03.01.
Junior Quincy Sanchez and senior Tyler Latham qualified for Central in the 110 meter hurdle prelims. Sanchez ran the third fastest time of 15.02 seconds and Latham turned in a time of 15.11 seconds, good for fifth place. Sophomore Tyrik Henry was 13th with a time of 17.58 seconds, but did not qualify.
Sophomore Richard Grudzwick wrote his name in the 800 meter finals tomorrow with a qualifying time of 1:58.52, good for seventh place. Junior Adonys Langual was 10th with a time of 1:59.37.
Sophomore Jack St. Clair was 10th in the 400 meter dash first round with a time of 49.84 seconds.
Four CCSU sprinters took flight in the 100 meter dash but were unable to fall under qualifying standards. Leading the quartet was senior Darryn Horner placed 10th with a time of 11.02 seconds. Freshman Darius Wise was 12th (11.19s), junior Jero Sneh was 15th (11.25s) and rookie Miles Fye-Moore finished in 20th with a time of 11.32 seconds.
Wise ran a time of 22.57 in the 200 meter dash to lead CCSU. Fye-Moore was 17th with a time of 22.78 seconds and Sneh was 27th with a time of 23.53 seconds.
The Central Connecticut men's outdoor track and field team will resume championship action tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. with the javelin final. The track events will start at noon with the 3,000 meter steeplechase.