New York, NY - The University of Hartford indoor men's and women's track and field teams competed at the Rider/Lafayette Invitational on Friday. The event was not teamed scored, however the Hawks set four school records ? one on the men's side and three coming from the women's team. The Hawks competed in their final meet before next week's America East Championships.
The women's records all came in individual events, with a pair set on the track side and the final record coming in the field events. Elizabeth Foster continued her impressive senior campaign, breaking the school record in the one mile run with her time of 5:11.21, earning 12th place ? the highest finish for the Hartford women on Saturday. Melanie Wilson's time of 2:23.38 in the 800-meter run was enough to break the school record set by teammate Erika Schramm in 2008. She recorded an 18th place finish in the middle-distance event.
Rounding out the track events, Kaycee Martinez raced to a 13th place finish in the 400-meter run, crossing the line with a time of 59.70, while Marisa Poleto followed closely behind, finishing 14th (59.79) in the event. Additionally, the women's 4x400-meter relay team took home a sixth place performance in a field of 17 squads. The foursome clocked in with a time of 4:04.34, just six-tenths of a second ahead of America East conference foe UMBC.
Also breaking an indoor school record for the Hawks was Rebecca Perry in the weight throw. Perry recorded a distance of 11.47-meters, shattering the previous record 0.16-meters. In the field events, Nicolle Adams led the Hawks, recording an 11th place finish in the triple jump (10.81-meters), and leaping a distance of 5.10-meters in the long jump for a 13th place ranking.
On the men's side, Andrew Chalmers highlighted the track events, racing to a 15:55.46 finish in the 5,000-meter run. The rookie was 14th to cross the line, and broke the school record by just over two seconds. Senior Warren Lane saw the highest finish for the Hartford men, crossing 12th in the 500-meter run, clocking in with a time of 1:06.35.
Senior Anthony Oluwanifise brought home the only top-10 finish for the Hawks on Saturday. Oluwanifise earned eighth in the long jump, recording a distance of 6.65-meters. Also standing out for the Hartford men in the field events was freshman Nigel Nimoh. The rookie recording ranked 12th in the long jump with a distance of 6.52-meters, while recording a distance of 13.41-meters in the triple jump for a 14th place finish in the event.
The Hawks are back on the track on February 21 when they travel to the Boston University Track and Tennis Center for the two-day 2009 America East Indoor Track and Field Championships.
