Welsh Crowned NEC Long Jump Champion, Men's Track in Second After Day One

The Central Connecticut men's indoor track and field team totaled 29 points after the first day of the 2019 Northeast Conference Championships. Wagner earned the most points of the day with 40.

DAY ONE COMPILED RESULTS | DAY TWO START LIST

Junior Kevorni Welsh was crowned the NEC men's long jump champion. Welsh earned 10 points for Central after posting a jump of 7.11 meters, beating his previous best jump of 7.00 meters. Classmate Marquise Ward took the bronze medal in the event after jumping 6.91 meters, earning six points for the Blue Devils.

Junior Roberto Piotto earned a bronze medal in the 3,000-meter run clocking in at 8:34.67.

In the men's pole vault, senior Jeremy Hopwood finished seventh, adding two points to Central's overall score, posting 4.40 meters.

Juniors Qunicy Sanchez and Tyrik Henry qualified for the 60-meter hurdles final with times of 8.34 and 8.59 seconds respectively. Freshman Cam Whalen finished with a time of 8.67 seconds but did not advance.

Senior Akiel Smith ran the fastest 60-meter dash time of the day at 6.79 seconds earning a spot in the finals and surpassing his previous best time of 6.88 seconds. Smith also qualified for the 200-meter dash finals running the third fastest time of the day at 21.80 seconds.

Junior Richard Grudzwick had an impressive showing in the men's one-mile run clocking in first at 4:20.17 to qualify for the finals.

Grudzwick also ran the fastest 800-meter race of the day with a time of 1:56.30. Junior Andrew Findley will also advance to the 800-meter finals after winning his heat with a time of 1:58.40 in the prelims.

Freshman Jason Walton qualified for the 500-meter dash finals recording a personal best time of 1:06.09. He surpassed his previous time of 1:06.43.

Sophomores Darius Wise and Miles Fye-Moore along with junior Evan Walker also competed in the 60-meter dash. Wise and Fye-Moore set a personal best in the event finishing at 7.07 and 7.09 seconds respectively. Walker clocked in at 7.20 seconds.

Junior Julio Arredondo and freshman Andruw Flemming ran in the one-mile race. Arredondo recorded a time of 4:24.97 and Flemming ran a personal best 4:43.79.

Three Blue Devils competed in the 400-meter dash. Freshman Garret Dandridge was first in for Central at 50.40 seconds. Next, rookie Qasim Danazumi clocked in at 51.57 seconds, followed by junior Jack St. Clair at 51.57 seconds.

Senior Matt Baum ran the 500-meter dash in 1:07.67 and finished in 1:10.24. Rookie Tim McNamara completed the 800-meter run in 2:02.34. In the 200-meter dash, Wise clocked in at 22.28 seconds and Dandridge 22.43 seconds.

Junior Jarred Creech leaped 6.42 meters in the long jump. Sophomore Gordon Perrett matched his personal best in pole vault at 3.80 meters. Freshman Craig Starkey also threw 3.80 meters passing his previous best of 3.65 meters.

In the shot put, junior Nana Kissi threw 13.81 meters, sophomore J'Von Brown 13.36 meters, freshman Ed Radzion 12.19 meters, and rookie Andrew McCarthy 11.67 meters.

Day two of the NEC Championships will start tomorrow at 1010 a.m. with the men's 60-meter hurdles final and will conclude at 2:15 p.m. with the closing awards ceremony. All track events will be streamed live on NEC Front Row and field event highlights will be posted on NEC Front Row On-Demand.