NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Warriors closed out the 2025 portion of their indoor schedule at the two-day Southern Connecticut State University Art Kadish Elms City Challenge Saturday at the Moore Field House. The women earned 52 points and placed fourth in an 11-team field while the men totalled 34 points in a fifth-place finish among 13 teams.

In the second meet of the year this weekend, several program records were established, with numerous individuals setting personal-bests and qualifying provisionally for the New England Division III Championship Feb. 28-March 1 at The TRACK in Boston.

Eastern kicks off the 2026 indoor schedule Jan. 7 at Bryant University Throws Meet at the Conaty Indoor Athletic Center. The entire team returns to action Jan. 17 at the University of Rhode Island Invitational at the Mackal Field House.
 
Saturday's Highlights

In the men's long jump, five of the top 14 finishers in the 29-person field wore Eastern uniforms, including first-year athletes Tristan Nye (Willimantic) and Christian Anderson (Danbury). Nye was eighth and qualified provisionally for the New England DIII meet with a mark of 21-6 (6.55m). Junior Michael Hemmings (Bridgeport) and Anderson placed in the top ten, tying for ninth place at 21-4 ½ (6.51m). Freshman Julius Lowe-Wannamaker of Hartford won the event, finishing ahead of three Southern Connecticut athletes.

In the women's long jump, Eastern placed five among the top ten in the 21-person field and recorded 15 total points Sophomore Givanni Perry (Hartford) set an indoor PR of 17-11 ¾ (5.48m), winning the event for the second straight time this year and qualifying automatically for the New England DIII meet. First-year athlete Naziah Johnson (Norwalk) placed fourth with her jump of 16-10 ½ (5.14) which came on her final jump of the finals. Junior Laci Davis (Prospect) placed sixth, with her mark of 16-6 ½ (5.04m) on her first jump of the finals. Izzy Northrop (Uncasville) was third among first-year jumpers, placing tenth with a mark of 15-6 ¼ (4.73m) which came on her first jump of the day.

Sophomore Anaka Eaton (Coventry), competing indoors for the first year after playing basketball a year ago, picked up two points with a fifth-place finish in a field of 27 in the shot put. Eaton, who threw the weight Friday night, submitted a mark of 37-10 ¾ (11.55m) Saturday.

Three individuals accounted for 14 points in the women's triple jump and placed among the top five. Davis, last year's Little East champion and a New England qualifier in that event, was second in a field of 11 with a jump of 35-6 (10.82m), which came in her first attempt of the finals and which was an inch shy of last week's mark at Wesleyan. Perry's first jump of the finals resulted in a distance of 35-1 ¾ (10.71m) which landed her in fourth place and qualified her provisionally for the New England DIII meet. Sophomore Angelina Taccogna (Stratford) also qualified provisionally for New England's with a PR of 33-6 (10.21m) in a fifth-place finish.

Junior Dustin Sannasi (Waterbury) cleared the first three heights and placed fourth with a mark of 6-2 (1.88m) in a field of 11 in the high jump. Sannasi and Joseph French-Graham of Southern Connecticut both jumped 6-2, with Sannasi clearing the height on his second try and French-Graham on his first, giving the latter third place.

After breaking Ahriyan Brown's program record last weekend in the women's 60, Johnson tied Brown's record of 7.41 in the preliminaries of the 55 Saturday and broke it with a mark of 7.35 in the finals which netted her third place in a field of 35 runners. Perry set a PR of 7.70 in the preliminaries as one of five Eastern competitors in the race. Johnson, Perry and first-year sophomore transfer Maya Korczak (East Hampton) (7.50) all qualified provisionally for the New England meet.

In the preliminaries of the men's 55 meters, junior James Saint-Jean (Bridgeport)  qualified provisionally for the New England DIII meet with a PR of 6.69, finishing second in his heat.

In the 55 hurdles,  Northrop gained a point for the team in a sixth-place finish in a field of 15, qualifying provisionally for the New England meet. Northrop ran 9.23 in the prelims and 9.17 in the final.

Korczak's 9.39 in the prelims left her .16 behind Northrop and just shy of qualifying for the final. Sophomore Mary Levesque's (Coventry) 10.16 in the prelims was a PR.

Eastern picked up nine points from two first-year runners in the 400. Hagen Drake (Stonington) was second by 0.46 seconds in the men's race and qualified provisionally for the New England meet with a time of 51.16, picking up eight points. Ella Caplet (Bozrah) added a point with a sixth-place finish of 1:02.84 in the women's competition.

Drake followed the 400 with four points in the men's 55 hurdles by finishing fourth among 15. Drake ran 8.05 in the prelims and 8.07 in the final, and along with classmate Jack Harvell (Stafford), qualified provisionally for the New England meet. Harvell ran 8.32 in the prelims.

Johnson brought her three-event total to 16 points with a fourth-place finish among 38 with a time of 27.20 in the women's 200 and qualifying provisionally for the New England's. Eastern placed three among the top eight in the event and five in all in the race. Junior Jasmine Charlery (New Britain) added a point with a sixth-place finish of 27.34 (.14 behind Johnson). First-year runner Shannon Tallis (Suffield) equalled last week's PR of 28.64, placing 16^th overall.

Saint-Jean and Harvell both set PRs in the men's 200 with times of 23.27 and 24.31.

Both relays placed third in the final event of the meet Saturday night, adding six points to Eastern's total.  The women's was a three-team competition won by Southern Connecticut with Little East Conference opponent RIC second. The Eastern women were timed in 4:16.83. Four teams contended for the men's title, with Eastern's time of 3:36.62 .02 behind second-place RIC.