Women's Track Opens Outdoor Season at Bryant
Brawner won the 1,500 meter run to lead CCSU.
Central Connecticut sophomore Megan Brawner kicked off the 2018 outdoor campaign by winning the 1,500 meter run at Bryant's Black & Gold Invitational on Saturday. Brawner flew in at 4:39.70, two seconds ahead of the Bulldog's Olivia Weiss in second place (4:41.71). CCSU swept the 100 meter hurdle event, winning the first, second and third place finishes.
Among the three hurdle studs was sophomore Hailey Rospierski who won the event with a time of 14.96 seconds. Senior Melissa Wolliston was the runner-up with a time of 15.11 seconds, and junior Sierra Nesmith was third (15.31s) all of which were against -1.2 wind conditions.
Nesmith's top event of the day came in the 400 meter hurdles. The junior won the event with a time of 1:02.34. Wolliston took 10th in the event with a mark of 1:14.38.
Sophomore Gianna D'Amato demolished her old personal record javelin throw of 33.62m with a 40.76m throw on Saturday, good for a second place tie. Junior Abrah Toomey placed eighth with a mark of 36.44 meters.
Senior Brittany Mendelson placed third in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 17:44.46. Senior Olivia Mondo ran a 19:08.15 time and placed 20th, and junior Morgan Ricci clocked in at 19:53.99.
Freshman Angie Rafter placed fourth in the 1,500 meter run in Brawner's footsteps with a time of 4:45.03. Junior Madeline Mondo finished in 13th place with a time of 4:53.62. Junior Dawn Hubbell and freshman Kiley Rodriguez also placed in the top-25. Hubbell finished in 4:56.10 (18th place) and the rookie crossed in at 4:59.88 (23rd place). Freshman Kaitlyn Stevens rounded out the six Blue Devil runners with a time of 5:18.38 in 38th place.
The reigning 2018 NEC Indoor Long Jump Champion, junior McKenna Kilian placed 12th in the long jump on Saturday with a mark of 5.13 meters. Sophomore Hailey Rospierski took 18th with a jump of 4.91 meters.
Rospierski tied for third place in a 1.60 meter jump-off in the high jump event. Kilian tied for nintih place at the 1.50 meter mark.
Sophomore Arianna Taft was the lone CCSU representative in the 400 meter dash, and finished at 1:14.30. Stevens and freshman Kailyn Accetura took 12th place (2:40.44) and 15th place (2:45.32) in the 800 meter run respectively.
Toomey threw for 37.33 meters and sophomore Celine Delice hit the 31.54 mark in the hammer throw for CCSU.
The Blue Devils 4x400 relay team of Rafter, Brawner, Taft, and Kilian took third out of seven teams with a time of 4:13.87.
The Central Connecticut women's track and field team will compete next on Saturday, April 7 at the Mark Young Invitational at Yale in New Haven, CT.