NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's track & field team may not have been in mid-season form when it opened its 2021-22 indoor season Saturday at the Smith College Winter Classic, but there were enough impressive performances in the season-opener to make a case for that.
 
In the non-scoring meet, six individuals and one relay netted first-place finishes, one set a program record in his collegiate debut, 18 individuals and two relays placed among the Top 5, three qualified for the New England Division III Championships which are still more than three months away and six performers posted marks which rank among the Top 30 on this, the first weekend of competition.
 
Senior tri-captains Ryan Escoda (Newtown) and Tyler Lindquist (Worcester, MA) paced the individual winners, with senior Rahman Oteng (Accra, Ghana), sophomore Aidan Hennessy (Granby) and first-year participant Adam Schimmelpfennig (Pomfret) also capturing individual firsts, as did the 4x200 meter relay which included sophomores Conor Hennessy (Granby) and Kristian Kowalski (East Granby) and newcomer Eric Phongsa (Pomfret).
 
Escoda won at 3000 meters in the tenth-fastest time in Division III (8:53.96), with 60 meter record-holder Rahman Oteng posting a 6.98 in the finals of the 60 which qualified him for the New England Division III Championships and equaled the 13^th-fastest time in Division III this year. Oteng was accorded Division III All-America honors at 60 meters after being seeded eighth in the 2020 national meet before Covid cancelled the competition.
 
Lindquist captured the 200 with a PR of 23.66 and Aidan Hennessy the high jump with a PR of 6-0/1.83m. In his first meet, Schimmelpfennig ran the second-fastest 60 meter hurdles (8.72) in program history which qualified him for the New England Championships and was the 22^nd-fastest time this year in Division III.
 
In a second-place finish, sophomore Thomas Stone (Glastonbury) set a personal record of 2:04.10 in the 800 which was the 27^th-best time in Division III this year, and Aidan Hennessy's third-place finish in the triple jump (42-3 1/4/12.88m) was his career-best. First-year contributor Liam Stafford (Alexandria, VA) ran the 22^nd-fastest mile this year in Division III and was second in the meet with a time of 4:35.86.
 
Also establishing personal bests among Top 5 finishers were sophomore Ethan Lambert (Burrillville, RI) in the high jump and Lindquist in the 400, both placing fifth. Lambert had a mark of  5-10 (1.78m) and Lindquist was clocked at 53.18.
 
Eastern competes at the Springfield College Massasoit Classic Jan. 22 at the Springfield Field House.                                                                

                           SMITH COLLEGE WINTER CLASSIC
              at the Smith College Indoor Track & Tennis Complex