May 9, 2009
TRACK & FIELD ENJOYS TREMENDOUS MEET AT NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
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| The men's 4x400m relay team set a new school record Saturday at the New England Championships. Congratulations Bulldogs ! |
AMHERST, MA – The 2009 Bryant University men’s and
women’s outdoor track & field continued its excellent
season Saturday with a strong final performance at the New England
Championships hosted by UMass-Amherst. The Bryant men
finished 22nd with 12 points scored while the women did not
score.
Opening Friday’s competition with several personal-best
performances, the Bulldogs carried the momentum into
Saturday’s finals. Junior Alex Engel, who
advanced to the finals of the 400 meters with a blistering time of
48.43 seconds (fourth), finished third overall in the finals with a
time of 48.10.
It was just shy of his season-best time of 48.09 set a few weeks
back at Brown.
In the men’s 1500 meters, freshman Drew
Clark finished 17th in a new personal-best time of
3:57.67.
Teammate John Mitton placed 28th in the
men’s 800 meters in 1:58.43.
In the field events, Chris Brida finished 16th in
the men’s triple jump with a best mark of 43 feet, five
inches.
It was a new personal-best for Brida who cleared 43-4.5 back at the Bryant Invitational in March.
The Bryant women, who only two competitors in the meet, did not
score as high jumpers Melanie
Farbotko and Joanna Chanaj
finished with a no-height.
The meet concluded with an impressive performance by the
men’s school-record 4x400 meter relay team of
Engel, Mike DiBella,
Thomas O’Connor and Andrew
Fitzgerald.
A few weeks after setting the new school mark with a time of 3:16.59 at Brown, the quartet took home fourth-place finish in a new school-record time of 3:15:39 to earn five team points.
The 4x400m relay record wasn't the only record to fall on the weekend as freshman Anthony Monteiro 110 meter hurdle time of 15.66 broke Bryant's eight-year-old record of 15.70 held by Jason Gomez.
The Bulldogs will compete next weekend at the IC4A championships in Princeton, New Jersey. Engel will be competing in the 400 meters and the 4x400 meter relay with teammates DiBella, O'Connor and Fitzgerald. Engel qualified for the championships by meeting the standard time of 48.50 and the relay team earned a trip by meeting the standard of 3:17.60.
