Men's Track 4th at UMass Invitational

The Central Connecticut men's track and field team placed fourth out of 11 teams on Saturday at the UMass Invitational. Junior Ryan Budd led CCSU as the only Blue Devil to earn a gold medal, racing the 400m hurdles in 55.51 seconds.

RESULTS

Junior Jordan Watkins finished behind Budd in a career-best time of 56.36, good for sixth. He was followed by two freshman who both posted career-best times, Dan Baum (8th, 56.73) and Brian Beckwith (58.68).

Watkins also raced the 110m hurdles, finishing third in 14.82, just .30 seconds from the CCSU outdoor record in the event. He was followed by Baum, (7th, 15.70) and freshman Malik Gordon (11th, 16.36).

In the 100m dash, sophomore Kendall Walker claimed the bronze in a field of 30 sprinters with his time of 11.06. Just behind in fourth was junior Jamal Fruster (11.12) in his first career appearance in the event. Freshman Elijah Amoah finished 12th in 11.39 for a new career-best mark.

CCSU registered two top-10 performances in the 200m dash. Walker was the first from Central to cross the line in a career-best 22.36, good for seventh, followed by Fruster in eighth (22.38). 

A trio of Blue Devils crossed the line together in the 400m. Budd (12th, 50.93), junior Chris Savvidou (13th, 50.98) and freshman Tommy Pytel (14th, 51.09).

In the distance events, Colin Sauter finished second overall in the 5,000m run. In his first attempt at the event, the freshman raced a time of 15:16.46.

In the 800m run, freshman Thomas Lupoli finished seventh in a career-best 1:55.34. He was followed closely by sophomore Malcolm Connor in ninth (1:55.44).

Freshman Garrett Shaw earned another silver medal for Central in the triple jump. He posted a career-best distance of 13.25m.

In the high jump, Gordon finished third on a jump-off with his height of 1.86m. The mark is a career best for the freshman.

In the throwing events, junior Michael Ficorilli lead CCSU in the shot put, discus throw and hammer throw. His best finish came in the discus where he threw for a career-best 40.70m. He was followed by sophomore Therin Scott in ninth (37.21) in the event.

Ficorilli finished sixth in the hammer throw with his launch of 41.72m and seventh in the shot put with a distance of 13.17m.

Freshman Jeremy Willis finished third in the javelin with his mark of 51.86, followed by freshman James Frey (50.56).

Rhode Island claimed the win on Saturday with 163 team points. Northeastern followed with 146 and UMass took third (109.50). The Blue Devils tallied 91 points for fourth while American International earned 57 to round out the top five.

Four Blue Devils also competed at the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic on Saturday. Results will be made available on CCSUBlueDevils.com when competition is completed later this evening.

CCSU will return to action this Friday, April 18 at Princeton for a two-day competition.