Jan. 23, 2010

INDOOR TRACK & FIELD TEAMS BACK IN ACTION AT RHODE ISLAND

MEN'S RESULTS / WOMEN'S RESULTS

KINGSTON, R.I. - The Bryant University men's and women's indoor track & field teams returned to action for first time in more than a month but turned in a tremendous all-around performance at Saturday's University of Rhode Island Rhody Open.

The layoff for the holiday's certainly didn't appear to affect the men as senior standout Alex Engel got the new year off to a great start by setting a new school indoor record in the 500 meters.  Engel placed second behind URI's David Kennedy by just a fraction of a second in one of the closest finishes of the meet, but Engel's time of 1:04.82 bettered his previous school record by close to a second (1:05.19).

Engel also helped the Bulldog 4x400 meter relay team consisting of Mike DiBella, Thomas O'Connor and Ben Polichronopoulos take second in 3:27.71.

O'Connor ran a strong race in the 55 meter prelims, finishing 15^th and later took second in the 200 meters in 22.81 seconds.  Teammate Anthony Monteiro qualified for the finals of the 55 meter hurdles with a 8.09 qualifying time and would place fourth in the finals in 8.08.

The women saw several good performances as well in their first meet since competing at Harvard in early December.  Freshman Amanda Dilley opened with a 12^th place finish in the 55 meters (9.33) and later took 18^th in the 200 meters in 27.92.

Melissa Ellard was 25^th (28.86) while Joanna Chanaj was 28^th (29.92).  In the 400, Meagan Evans was 12^th in 1:07.94

In the field events, Laura Weeks earned a top-10 finish in the high jump clearing 5-feet, 1-inch while Chanaj and Melanie Farbotko were 14^th and 15^th respectively with a best mark of the day of 4-11.

The Bulldogs will travel to the Boston University Invitational next weekend.