Bryant University Bulldogs Indoor Track Turns In Several Strong Performances at URI Invitational

January 31, 2009

BULLDOGS COMPETE AT URI TRACK INVITE

SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. - The Bryant University men's and women's track and field teams were back in action this past weekend competing in the University of Rhode Island Track & Field Invitational at Mackal Field House.

A week after a strong showing at BU, the Bulldog men turned in several strong performances at the meet led by first-place finishes by Mike DiBella (Upper Saddle River, NJ) and Alex Engel (Spencer, MA) and another impressive outing by the 4x400 meter relay squad.

DiBella, a sophomore, picked up a first-place finish in the men's 400 meters, winning in a time of 51.22 seconds. Engel later took top honors in the men's 500 meters, winning in season-best time of 1:05.81 seconds.

Both would run strong legs in the 4x400 meters, joining Thomas O'Connor (Westwood, MA) and Andrew Fitzgerald (New Hartford, CT) on the first-place relay squad that broke the tape in 3:24.27. It was only a few seconds shy of last week's season-best performance of 3:21.51 at BU.

Other highlights on the day included Anthony Monteiro's (Leominster, MA) third-place in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles (8.25) and O'Connor's second-place finish in the 200 meters in 22.68.

The Bulldogs produced another first in the field events as Fitzgerald capped a busy day by winning the men's triple jump, clearing 43 feet, 10.75 inches followed by teammate Chris Brida (Southampton, MA) who was second with a best mark on the day of 41-4.25.

On the women's side, Bryant's Justine Douvadjian (Andover, MA) had an excellent meet. The senior captured third-place in the women's 400 meters in a season-best 1:01.98. Katie Pelletier (Berwick, ME) was fourth in 1:04.13. Douvadjian would later placed ninth in the women's long jump with a mark of 15 feet, seven inches and ran the third leg of the 4x400 meter relay team that placed second in 4:17.54.

Amy Hutchinson (Exeter, RI) also enjoyed a good day, earning a spot in the finals of the 55m hurdles with an eighth-place finish in the prelims in a time of 9.72 seconds. She would finish seventh in the finals (9.72).

Hutchinson would later take eighth in the long jump (15-8.25) and seventh in the high jump with a best mark of 4-11.50. Freshman Joanna Chanaj (Peabody, MA)was fifth in the high jump, clearing 4-11.50 .