Men's Track & Field 6th at URI
Juniors Jamal Fruster and Jordan Watkins each placed second overall in their events Saturday.
The Central Connecticut men's track and field team competed at the University of Rhode Island "Coaches" Coed Invitational on Saturday. The Blue Devils finished sixth out of 10 squads and were led by juniors Jamal Fruster and Jordan Watkins, who each placed second overall in their events.
Fruster registered a time of 49.53 in the 400m dash for second place and was followed by freshman Will Ribiero who crossed the finish line in 53.62, good for 21st.
Watkins, who currently holds the CCSU record in the 60m hurdles (8.22), placed second Saturday with his time of 8.29. Watkins was the only Blue Devil to qualify for the finals race in the event but was joined in the prelims by freshman Dan Baum, who registered a time of 8.89 for 12th place.
Freshman Jevon Elmore also performed well on the day, qualifying for the 60m dash finals. Elmore placed fourth overall with his time of 7.07, just six hundredths of a second shy of his career-best time in the event (7.01).
Joining Elmore in the 60m prelims were freshmen Kendall Walker (13th, 7.24) and Garrett Shaw. Shaw finished 18th but notched a career-best time of 7.34 seconds in the race.
Walker also competed in the 200m dash for CCSU, finishing sixth overall out of 25 with his time of 22.78.
In the 500m dash, junior Ryan Budd crossed the line first for Central, registering a time of 1:07.91. Freshman Tommy Pytel clocked a 1:08.86 for 20th place and sophomore Brian Beckwith placed 24th in 1:09.41.
In the distance events, senior Craig Hunt earned a fifth-place finish in the one mile. He registered a time 4:18.52, just under a second shy of his career-best (4:17.76). Hunt was followed by freshman Derek French who crossed the line in 4:33.45, shattering his previous career-best of 4:40.82.
Junior Jamie Tobias led Central in the field events, placing fifth after a jump-off in the high jump competition. Tobias tied his career-best high jump performance of 1.94m.
Junior Michael Ficorilli registered a distance of 13.47m in the weight throw, followed by a career-best performance of 12.44m from freshman Jeremy Willis.
Ficorilli also competed in the shot put event in which he accomplished a toss of 13.29 meters, good for 17th place out of 32 throwers.
In the triple jump, sophomore John Sudol earned a new career-best distance of 12.89m and also earned 14th in the long jump, leaping 6.0m.
The Blue Devils return to action next Saturday, Feb. 8, as they kick off day one of the 2014 Indoor Track and Field Northeast Conference Championships.