Women's Track Sets Five Personal Records at David Hemery Valentine Invitational
The Blue Devils will compete next week at the NEC Championships on Feb. 16-17 in Staten Island, NY.
The Central Connecticut women's indoor track and field team set five personal records on Friday, February 9 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.
In the 400 meter dash, the Blue Devils snagged two collegiate best times between junior Sierra Nesmith and sophomore Arianna Taft. Nesmith sprinted past her old personal record time of 57.65 seconds, with a new best time of 57.04 seconds. Taft topped her previous school record of 1:02.96, set earlier this season at the Yale Collegiate Invite, with a new time of 1:02.08.
The 800 meter run also produced two personal records for CCSU's sophomore Megan Brawner and freshman Kailyn Accetura. Brawner edged her old previous time of 2:17.83 with a new personal record of 2:17.11, taking second in her heat and placing 65th overall. Accetura crushed her previous personal best time of 2:55.39 with a new top mark of 2:48.50.
Rounding out the personal record setting for Central was junior Morgan Ricci who ran a 5:41.23 mile time, surpassing her old collegiate best time of 5:42.36.
The women's 4x400 meter relay missed a season-best time by 1.27 seconds finishing at 4:15.27. Freshman Angie Rafter crossed the finish line at 1:20.36 in the 500 meter dash to place 28th overall.
Sophomore Hailey Rospierski ran a time of 9.09 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles preliminary round. Rookie Jaekwana Newton competed for CCSU in the 60 meter dash, turning in a time of 8.65 seconds.
Central three other athletes compete in the mile in addition to Ricci's personal record performance. Junior Dawn Hubbell finished first for the Blue Devils at 5:11.83, followed by classmate Madeline Mondo who crossed in at 5:13.46. Senior Olivia Mondo posted a mile time of 5:33.23.
In the field, junior McKenna Kilian placed 22nd overall in the long jump for Central, leaping 5.23 meters. Kilian also cleared 1.60 meters in the high jump and sophomore Hailey Rospierski jumped 1.65 meters.
Sophomore Valeria Hernandez led Central in the shot put, posting a distance of 10.61 meters. Junior Abrah Toomey recorded a throw of 9.89 meters and freshman Celine Delice threw for 8.18 meters. Toomey hit the 13.13 meter mark in the weight throw and Hernandez was next in the standings after throwing a distance of 12.05 meters.
The Central Connecticut women's track and field team will next compete on Friday and Saturday, February 16-17 for the 2018 Northeast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Wagner inside of Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, NY.