Storrs, CT ? The University of Hartford track and field teams competed at the University of Connecticut Alumni Invitational over the weekend. The Hawks saw three school records fall in just their second meet in the outdoor season. The men's team finished in sixth place out of eight, while the women finished in eighth out of eight teams.
All three school records came on the women's side with two individuals and one relay record. The first record came in the 400-meter hurdles where Kaycee Martinez finished sixth overall, breaking her own school record, with a time of 1:05.06. The second individual record came on the field side of the meet where Sherilyn Nicholas beat out teammate Latasha Jarrett for the long jump record. Nicholas' top distance was 16'6.25” which was one-quarter of an inch farther than Jarrett's school record set last year.
The Hawks 4x400-meter relay team closed out the school record performances with a second place finish, behind the host Huskies. The relay which was anchored by Martinez also included Jarrett, Marisa Poleto and Ariana Bass, finished in a time of 3:59.66, which is just under two seconds faster than the previous record, set during the 2005 outdoor season.
Rounding out the women's scoring was Jarrett and Nicholas in the high jump and Raquel Payne in the 100-meter dash. Payne finished in seventh place in the sprint event with a time of 13.16. Jarrett and Nicholas ended up tied for fifth place in the high jump, both topping a height of 5'1”.
The men's team finished with 54 total points, the first of which came in the 400-meter dash. Warren Lane and Eric Ciccone combined to score five points in the sprint event, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Lane finished with a time of 51.14 and Ciccone at 51.35.
The bulk of the scoring came in the long and triple jump events, where Anthony Oluwanifise, Stephan Jospitre and Greg Giddings combined together for 28 points. Oluwanifise led the way in the long jump where he set leapt a distance of 21'9.5” for a third place finish. Jospitre finished just behind him in fourth place (21'2.7”) and Giddings saw a seventh place finish with his distance of 20'7.25”.
Jospitre led the three in the triple jump finishing in third place, while Giddings was fourth and Oluwanifise finished fifth. Jospitre saw a final distance of 45'1.75”, Giddings soared to 42'8.75” and Oluwanifise saw a distance of 42'7”. Also scoring in the field events was Ryan Trupin in the high jump and Steven Paternoster in the javelin throw. Trupin finished in fifth place in the high jump with his height of 5'10.5”, while Paternoster hurled a distance of 174'10” to finish in sixth place.
The men's and women's track and field teams will next compete at the University of Massachusetts Invitational on April 12 in Amherst, MA.
