Eastern Men's Finishers
GORHAM, Maine – Three Eastern Connecticut State University individuals and one relay claimed titles at the 17th Annual New England Alliance/Little East Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday at the Costello Sports Complex on the campus of the University of Southern Maine.
Photo courtesy of Jason Edwards
Coming off last spring's Little East outdoor pole vault championship, senior Amy Huhn (Hebron) won her first indoor Little East and Alliance women's titles with a program record jump of 10-feet-10 inches.
For the men, senior Fredrick Hewett (New London) followed last year's LEC indoor championship at 55 meters by running to first place in both the LEC and Allliance at 400 meters with a time of 50.43. Competing in the LEC/NEA indoor meet for the first time, senior Andrew Prince (Orange) became the ninth different member of the Eastern men's team (fourth in the last five years) to win the 55, taking the LEC title with a personal-best time of 6.61. Prince also ran the second leg when the 4x200 relay won the men's program's first such title in an LEC meet record time of 1:33.07 to outdistance the LEC field. Joining Prince on the LEC-record 4x200 relay were sophomore John Boisette (East Hartford) running leadoff, freshman Cameron Kellogg (Waterbury) and junior D'Vonte Chambers (West Haven) running anchor. The first three LEC relays were separated by only .21, and all broke the previous LEC record of 1:33.60, which was set last year by Southern Maine.
The New England Alliance is comprised of six Little East Conference institutions and four institutions from the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC).
The Eastern men placed fourth and the Eastern women sixth in Little East scoring. Both Eastern teams were ninth in the Alliance rating.
The University of Southern Maine women won their 15th LEC title in 16 years and their 14th straight Alliance championship. The Huskies doubled Keene State College's point total in the LEC and nearly doubled the total of Bridgewater State University in the Alliance. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men won their second LEC and Alliance titles in three years (second overall), out-pointing Southern Maine by 21 points in the Little East and trimming Bridgewater by five in the Alliance.
The top three individuals and first two relays in each event are accorded All-LEC honors and the first eight individuals and top three relays are named All-Alliance. The first six individuals score points in the LEC scoring and top eight gain points in the Alliance.
Led by Hewett, the Eastern men totaled 21 All-LEC and All-NEA honors and the women seven.
Hewett gained six total honors in the relay, 200 and 400. In addition to the 400 and relay, Hewett was second in the LEC 200 and sixth in the NEA 200; Prince was a four-time honoree in the relay and 55, and Boisette a four-time honoree in the 200 (3rd/7th) and relay; in the pole vault, first-year senior Ben Abrahams (Glastonbury) was second in LEC and seventh in the LEC; in the 55 hurdles, junior Andre Reynolds (Hartford) was third in the LEC and fifth in the NEA, while junior Luisantonio Rosado (Ponce, PR) was sixth in the NEA in the 55 hurdles. Earning All-LEC and All-NEA distinction with the winning relay were Chambers and Kellogg.
Hewett became the fourth winner of the indoor 400 for the Eastern men (first in eight years), following current assistant coach Jason Edwards (2002) and All-America David Nicholson (2005 and 2006). He trimmed junior Stephen Gannon of Worcester State by .05 to win his section and take the NEA crown and was .33 faster than sophomore Brandon Jarousky of UMass Dartmouth in the race for the LEC title.
With Prince (1st), Hewett (4th), Boisette (5th) and Chambers (6th), Eastern dominated the 55 Saturday, collecting 17 of the possible 31 points in the LEC tabulation. Behind Hewett (2nd), Boisette (3rd) and Prince (5th), the Warriors also accumulation 16 points in the LEC scoring in the 200 and 11 in the 55 hurdles (Reynolds third, Rosado fourth and first-year junior Alex Mercier (Pomfret Center) sixth.
Having achieved All-LEC and All-Alliance distinction13 times in 14 tries indoors and outdoors in the pole vault, Huhn reached ten feet for the third straight meet, breaking the four-year program record by four inches. She becomes the first Eastern female to win the event in the indoor meet.
Joining Huhn as an All-LEC and All-NEA honoree for the women was senior Lauren Hultzman (Putnam), who shared second place in the LEC and third place in the NEA with a mark of 4-11 ¾ in the high jump. Hultzman is a six-time indoor and outdoor high jump champion, having won the LEC and NEA indoors and outdoors as a sophomore and again in outdoor competition last spring. UMass Boston senior Renee O'Brien won gold at Saturday's meet with a height of 5-feet-3 inch (one-quarter inch shy of Hultzman's program indoor record).
In addition to Huhn and Hultzman, three others achieved NEA recognition: senior Akaya McElveen (New Haven) was sixth in the 600, junior Kelly Labanara (Chaplin) sixth in the 5,000; and sophomore Erica Andrasi (Trumbull) eighth in the high jump.
Eastern competes in the New England Division III Championships this Friday and Saturday, the men at MIT and the women at Springfield College.
