WESTFIELD, Mass. – The goal of Eastern Connecticut State University senior Fredrick Hewett (New London) has been to break the men's program record at 400 meters, which has stood for the last eight years.
Saturday, with perhaps only two meets remaining in his career, Hewett did just that – by the slimmest of margins.
At right: Senior Fredrick Hewett's record-setting weekend included program marks in the 4x100 meter relay and 400 meter dash. (Photo by Jason Edwards)
After winning the Little East Conference championship two weeks ago in a time of 49.65 and placing seventh at last weekend's New England Division III Championships in a time of 49.72, Hewett achieved his goal by clocking 48.28 at the New England Open Championships Saturday at the Jerry Gravel Track & Field Facility on the Westfield State University campus -- .01 faster that the record set by All-America David Nicholson at the New England Division III Championships at Springfield College in 2006.
Hewett nearly missed the opportunity to break the record, advancing to the final by a mere .03 seconds ahead of UMass Lowell's Tunde Ogunleye.
The finals time – nearly a full second faster than his preliminary time and the 21st-fastest time this season in Division III -- was the third-fastest among Division III competitors in the race and the fifth-fastest overall in a field of 32, earning him All-New England recognition at the Open for the second time in three years. As a first-year sophomore in 2002, Hewett placed sixth in a time of 48.94 in the final following a preliminary time of 49.24. Last year, his preliminary time of 49.04 did not allow him to advance to the final.
The record was just one of two on the day for Hewett, who helped the 4x100 relay of classmate Andrew Prince (Orange), junior D'Vonte Chambers (West Haven), and sophomore John Boisette (East Hartford) trim the eight-year-old record by .10 seconds with a time of 42.37 which gave it a tenth-place finish in a field of 19.
Additional competitors for Eastern in the meet were Boisette in the 100 and 200, juniors Andre Reynolds (Hartford) in the 110 hurdles and Luisantonio Rosado (Ponce, PR) in the 400 hurdles, senior Lauren Hultzman (Putnam) in the high jump and freshman Natalie Bowens (Montville) in the triple jump. The men's 4x400 relay was 18th overall in a time of 3:19.97, runners including Hewett, junior Dylan Kruppa (Torrington), junior Lee Cattanach (New London) and Chambers.
Reynolds, Rosado, Hultzman and Bowens are all program record-holders in their respective events. Saturday, Reynolds ran the preliminary in a time of 15.27; Rosado was just shy of his record with a preliminary time of 55.73; Hultzman submitted a height of 5-3 and tied for 17th, and Bowens was measured at 35-5 in a 21st-place finish.
Hewett (400) and Hultman (high jump) are expected to compete at the ECAC Division III Championships Thursday and Friday at Harkness Field on the campus of RPI, hoping to qualify for the national championships which get underway May 22 at Ohio Wesleyan University.
