Eastern Men's Results
Eastern Women's Results
NEW LONDON –The Eastern Connecticut State University track & field programs returned from a five-week layoff to compete in the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Winter Invitational at the Roland Field House, where, in a five-team field, the men were third and the women last.
At right: Lauren Hultzman; insets: Fredrick Hewett (near left), Andrew Prince
Host Coast Guard won both the women's and men's titles by significant margins over Westfield State University. On the men's side, Rhode Island College shared fourth place with Trinity College. On the women's side, Trinity was third and Rhode Island College fourth.
For the Eastern women, senior All-New England performer Lauren Hultzman (Putnam) out-jumped a field of 11 in the high jump with a mark of 5-1 ¾ and was second in the long jump (15-7 ¾) in a field of 17. Freshman Lauren Polansky (Milford) improved from her first collegiate meet with a shot put of 35-2 and weight throw of 30-2, taking fourth place in a field of 17 in the former event and 12th among 15 in the latter. Her weight throw was nearly four feet farther than her opening meet and her shot put was measured just under a foot farther than her first meet.
In the 55, sophomore Sherry Gilronan (Darien) just missed her previous best in the preliminaries but posted her first sub-eight-second performance with a time of 7.99 in the final which gave her fifth place among 12 competitors. She was also sixth in a field of 15 in the 200, recording a mark of 29.42 which was less than a second off her previous best.
Sophomore Erica Andrasi (Trumbull) set a PR in the high jump with a height of 4-9 ¾ which eclipsed her previous best of 4-feet-9 which she had achieved three previous times and gave her fourth place in a field of 11. She was also tenth among 17 entries in the long jump (13-8 ¾).
In addition to Hultzman, the 4x400 relay relay posted a first, outkicking Trinity College and host Coast Guard to win in a time of 4:22.26. The Bantams were .42 seconds behind, with Coast Guard at 4:25.33. Participants included senior Akaya McElveen (New Haven), first-year sophomore Kelly Walker (Vernon), Gilronan and Hultzman.
For the men, senior Fredrick Hewett (New London) captured a 200 meter race for the fourth time in his career, besting 30 competitors in a time of 23.58. Racing in the seventh heat which produced five of the top six finishers, Hewett edged Coast Guard junior Ben Hannon by .17. The top three finishers in the heat were separated by less than a second.
Junior Andre Reynolds (Hartford), the program's 60 meter hurdles record-holder, won his heat of the 200 over senior Andrew Prince (Orange) and placed fourth overall in a time of 24.09. Prince was seventh in a time of 24.22.
In his first try in the 55, Prince was second in a field of 23 in a time of 6.80 in the final, losing out by .05 to Westfield State senior Zach Madera. Madera had edged Prince by .04 in the preliminaries.
The Warriors went 2-4-5 in the 55. Behind Prince was junior D'Vonte Chambers (West Haven) and sophomore John Boisette (East Hartford). Chambers was fourth (6.84) and Boisette fifth with a time of 6.86 in his first attempt in that event.
In addition to the 200, Reynolds was second in the 55 hurdles with a personal-best time of 7.94 and led an Eastern contingent of juniors Luis Rosado (Ponce, PR) and Alex Mercier (Pomfret Center) and freshman Dan Manzi (Coventry) which checked in at 5-6-7 with times of 8.40, 8.55 and 8.65, respectively. Reynolds also placed eighth with a time of 55.15 in the 400.
Other top performances: junior Dylan Kruppa (Torrinton) was measured at 20-6 ½ in a third-place finish in a field of 24 in the long jump; in his first meet, freshman Jason Bindner (Milford) was seventh in a field of 24 with a long jump of 19-4 ¼; Boisette posted a PR of 54.62 with a seventh-place showing among 21 in the 400; junior Lee Cattanach (New London) was fifth among 20 in the 3000 (9:29.10) – a program record which he owns; freshman Cameron Kellogg (Waterbury) placed 11th among 31 in the 200 (24.58); freshmen Lawrence McGill (New Haven) and Adam Pszczolkowski (Colebrook) smashed their previous bests with marks of 19-11 and 19-0 ¾ which allowed for fifth and 11th place finishes among 24 competitors in the long jump; freshman Joe Rainville (Montville), running the 400 for the first time, was clocked in 55.62 for an 11th-place finish.
In addition to the individual events, the men's 4x200 relay outran Westfield State University by seven seconds in a two-team race. Runners for the relay which was timed in 1:34.44 included Chambers, Boisette, Prince and Hewett.
Eastern competes at the Springfield College Invitational Saturday at 11 a.m.
