MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Four Eastern Connecticut State University men and three women won individual events – two qualifying for post-season competition -- at the Wesleyan University Invitational Saturday at the Bacon Field House. It was a non-scoring meet.
In all, Eastern featured 34 finishes among the top 6 in individual events, with the women's 4x800 relay running opposed and finishing first and the men's 4x800 and men's 4x400 each placing second.
Eastern competes at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Winter Invitational Friday at 4 p.m.
Meet Highlights
Senior JahDey Wright (Colchester) qualified for the NCAA Division III New England Championships with a season-best winning triple jump of 42-7 (12.98m) and senior Maggie Dulak (Northford) attained the New England standard with a winning PR time of 3:11.25 in the 1000. It was the first No. 1 finish in any event either indoor or outdoor for Dulak.
Additional winners included seniors Samantha McKosky (Deep River) in the mile and Samara Johnson (Lebanon) in the 3000, sophomores John Walker (Westerly, RI) in the 5000, Ryan Escoda (Newtown) in the 3000 and Kyle Smith (Manchester) in the 800. They were the first career wins for Johnson and Smith.
McKosky and Walker won as the No. 1 seeds, while Wright was a No. 2 seed, Escoda a No. 6 seed, Dulak and Smith No. 7 seeds, and Johnson a No. 10 seed.
The program record-holder in the mile, McKosky was timed in 5:15.77, Walker in 17:52.63, Escoda in 9:04.25, Smith in a PR of 2:05.41 and Johnson in a PR of 11:32.06.
In addition to the individual event winners, earning second-place honors were sophomore Manar Enany (Fairfield) in the weight (PR of 42-7 ½ (12.99m), freshman Wendie Stewart (Hartford) in the shot (37-10 ¾ (11.55m), senior Ahriyan Brown (New Britain) in the 60 (8.11) and 200 (26.85), senior Hayley Brodeur (Old Saybrook) in the 400 (1:01.99), freshman Cory Bill (Mansfield) with a PR of 1:28.09 in the 600, senior Rachel Osak (Portland) in the 3000 (11:42.47).
Also establishing personal bests among Top 6 finishers were Stewart in the weight (41-1 ½) (12.53m), first-year junior Dwayne Gordon (Hartford) in the long jump (17-8 ¾) (5.40m) and high jump (5-8) (1.73m), sophomore Tyler Lindquist (Worcester, MA) in the 400 (54.21), freshman Molly Marrandino (Hamden) in the 800 (2:40.51), senior Brittany Kriley (Fair Lawn, NJ) in the 200 (29.68), sophomore Jaleel Calhoun (West Haven) in the 200 (25.12), and sophomore Sara Gagnon (Meriden) in the 60 (8.39).
All five individuals competing in the weight established personal bests. In addition to Enany and Stewart were freshmen Randi Nelson (Hartford) (31-8) (9.67m) and Daniela Morales (West Haven) (29-11 1/2) (9.13m), and junior Nina Musco (Wallingford) (27-6) (8.38m).
Members of the second-place men's relays were Escoda, junior Maxwell Chace (Brooklyn), Smith and sophomore Tyler Wright (Westport) with the 4x800 (8:45.07) and Bill, senior Kevin Russell (Berlin), junior Justin Gomez-Stafford (New Haven) and Lindquist with the 4x400 (3:38.10).
In the women's 60 hurdles, Kriley won her heat in a time of 10.34 and ran to a fourth-place finish in the final (10.15). Brown and Gagnon placed 1-2 in their heat of the 60 and Gagnon went on to a sixth-place finish in the final (8.39); Johnson won her section of the mile and was 13th overall (5:44.10); Lindquist and Gomez-Stafford finished 1-2 in their second of the 400. Lindquist was sixth overall, Gomez-Stafford eighth.
In the men's 600, Bill was second in the fast sectional, with Russell winning his sectional (1:32.41) and senior Matt Viarengo (Bristol) capturing his sectional (1:34.68). Russell was ninth overall, Viarengo 12th; in the 200, Brown was second in the fast heat, with Kriley winning her heat with her PR of 29.68 and senior Ceana Rodriguez (New Britain) taking her heat (31.97). Kriley was 20th overall, Rodriguez 33rd; in the 200, where Bill placed fifth, senior Nicklas Brink (Stockholm, Sweden) and freshman Nikolas Martin (Coventry) went 1-2 (24.23-24.32) in their section and Calhoun (25.12) and junior Ryder Fitch (Canterbury) (25.40) placed 1-2 in their section.
In the women's 3000, where Johnson and Osak came across 1-2, Eastern grabbed six of the top eight spots, with 5-through-8 being all freshmen for Eastern.
