Two members of the Eastern Connecticut State University men's and two from the women's track & field teams earned All-New England honors at their respective New England Division III championship meets Saturday.
At the women's championships at the Springfield College Field House, seniors Akaya McElveen (New Haven) and Lauren Hultzman (Putnam) achieved All-New England honors in the 600 and high jump, respectively, with McElveen breaking the program record.
At the men's championships at the Johnson Athletic Center on the campus of MIT, juniors Andre Reynolds (Hartford) and Dylan Kruppa (Torrington) earned identical honors in the 60 hurdles and 600, respectively.
McElveen's mark of 1:40.44 placed her eighth in a field of 27 and broke the year-old record of 1:41.96. Hultzman earned All-New England recognition at the meet for the second time in three years with a mark of 5-foot-3 inches which gave her a tie for sixth place in a field of 24. It was her best mark in the competition in her career. In Friday's pentathlon, Hultzman broke her own program record with a height of 5-4 ¼, finishing with a share of second place in that event and placing seventh overall.
Kruppa was eighth among 15 participants in the 600 with a personal-best time of 1:24.35. As a sophomore, he was 13th in a time of 1:26.60 in the event. Having earlier this year broken the 60 hurdles record with a time of 8.52, Reynolds was clocked at 8.62 Saturday, good enough for seventh place among 19 competitors. Reynolds advanced to the finals in this meet for the first time in three years. He was timed at 8.66 last year and 9.25 as a freshman.
Also competing for the women Saturday were senior Amy Huhn (Hebron) in the pole vault and freshman Lauren Polansky (Milford), as well as the 4x200 relay. A week after winning the Little East championship with a record height of 10-feet-10 inches, Huhn shared 14th place Saturday at 9-feet-10 inches. Polansky was 18th with a mark of 36-9 ½. The relay placed 19th in a time of 4:24.61.
Also competing for the men were seniors Andrew Prince (Orange) and Fredrick Hewett (New London), juniors D'Vonte Chambers (West Haven), Luisantonio Rosado (Ponce, PR) and Alex Mercier (Pomfret Center), and sophomore John Boisette (East Hartford), as well as the 4x400 relay.
Dylan Kruppa (near right), Andre Reynolds (far right). Photo of Kruppa courtesy of Frank Poulin
Boisette (7.18), Prince (7.20), Chambers (7.28) all competed in the preliminaries of the 60, Rosado (8.94) and Mercier (8.95) in the preliminaries of the 60 hurdles, and Hewett (23.30) in the preliminaries of the 200. Boisette was 11th in the 200 in a time of 23.73 (qualifying for the final in a time of 23.04) and Hewett 11th in the 400 in a time of 51.32. The relay fell just short of All-New England laurels with a time of 3:29.67 which netted them ninth place. Trinity was eighth in a time of 3:29.20.
The women totaled 5.5 points in their meet which was won by Williams College (150 points). The men garnered three points, with MIT capturing that championship with 138 points.
Eastern competes at the New England Open this weekend at Boston University.
