May 8, 2009

NEW ENGLAND TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Engel Advances in 400 Meters

results from day 1  / New England Track Info Page Including Video

Junior Alex Engel looks to defend his 400m title Saturday at the New England Championships in Amherst, MA.

AMHERST, MA – The Bryant University men’s and women’s track & field kicked off the two-day 2009 New England Track & Field Championships Friday with several strong performances.  Junior Alex Engel (Spencer, MA) qualified for the finals in the men’s 400 meters and will look to defend his New England title Saturday.

Engel, who ran a season-best time of 48.09 a few weeks back at the Brown Springtime Invitational, placed fourth in Friday’s prelims with a time of 48.43 seconds.  It was faster than Engel’s qualifying time last year and gives him a shot at a repeat.

He’ll have to battle Boston University’s Joel Senick who turned in the fastest time of the fourth different heats with a time of 47.85 seconds.  Taylor Fitzgerald of Williams was second at 47.95.  The finals will run Saturday at 2:05 pm.

Thomas O’Connor and Michael DiBella were 11th and 17th respectively in the 400m. O’Connor finished in 49.07.

O’Connor, a sophomore, narrowly missed qualifying for the finals of the 200 meters, placing ninth in 21.99 seconds. It was a new personal-best for the standout who ran a 22.18 time at Brown in April.  Last year, O’Connor placed seventh in the finals as a freshman in the 200m in 22.26 but came up just a fraction of second Friday from advancing.  Hartford’s Anderson Emerole edged O’Connor by just 4 one-hundredth of a second (21.95 to O’Connor’s 21.99).

The Bulldogs, 21st in the team standings, scored a point in the 10,000 meters where senior standout Tom Casey (Cornwall, NY) placed eighth in a time of 32:39.98.  It was just shy of his school record time of 32:39.47 set in the first outdoor meet of the season at Northeastern back in March.

Also competing Friday, Anthony Monteiro placed 10th in the 110 meter hurdles in 15.66.  Monteiro's time broke an eight-year-old school record, passing Jason Gomez' time of 15.70 set in 2001. Zack Perron was ninth in the 400m hurdles in 55.03.  Andrew Fitzgerald was 30th in 1:07.07.

The championship will conclude Saturday with Joanna Chanaj and Melanie Farbotko competing in the high jump and freshman Drew Clark competing in the 1500 meters, Chris Brida in the triple jump and John Mitton in the 800 meters.

The meet will conclude with the men’s 4x400 meter relay at 4:45 pm.