Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford outdoor track and field teams opened its 2009 outdoor campaign at the Trinity College Bantam Invitational track and field meet on Saturday in Hartford, CT. The event was not a team scored event, however the Hawks saw six individual titles, and broke four school records.
Elizabeth Foster, Kaycee Martinez and Marisa Poleto each picked up an individual title to lead the Hawks in the track events. Foster had a stellar performance in the 3000-meter steeplechase. The senior recorded a time of 11:11.46, outracing her opponents by 23 seconds, and shattering her own school record of 12:09.85 set in 2007. Martinez, a junior, took top-billing in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking in with a time of 1:03.84 while Poleto's time of 1:00.25 was good for a title in the 400-meter run. Also seeing success in the 400-meter event was sophomore Mahrukh Khawaja, who posted a time of 1:04.38 for a sixth place performance.
Martinez also saw a top five finish in the 100-meter hurdles event. The junior raced to a 15.69 finish in the preliminaries, and clocked in with a 15.73 time in the finals for a second place finish in the event. In the 100-meter dash, sophomore Raquel Payne's time of 13.66 in the preliminaries qualified her for the finals, where she posted placed sixth finishing in 13.54.
A pair of Hawks recorded top 10 performances in the 800-meter run for the Hartford women. Classmates Ariana Bass and Melanie Wilson crossed fifth and sixth, recording times of 2:22.97 and 2:24.50, respectively.
Anderson Emerole led the Hartford men on the track with a pair of second place finishes on Saturday. The rookie took second in the 200-meter dash, clocking in with a time of 23.01, while finishing with a time of 11.43 in the 100-meter dash to take the second spot.
Emerole was joined by three Hawks in the top ten of the 200-meter event. Christian Ehigiator, Eric Ciccone and Anthony Oluwanifise finished sixth, seventh and eighth, with each time separated by less than a tenth of a second. Ehigiator and Christopher Carr finished fourth (11.64) and eighth (11.87) in the 100-meter dash.
The Hartford men also saw top 10 finishes in the 110-meter hurdles, 3000-meter steeplechase, the 400-meter run and the 5000-meter run. Adam Wells and Cody Adamson took fourth and fifth in the hurdles, posting times of 16.81 and 16.99 in the event. Andrew Chalmers competed in the steeplechase, placing fifth with a time of 10:36.67. Bill Stochmal and Wells, two Hartford hurdlers, raced to take eighth (59.71) and tenth (1:00.79) in the 400-meter hurdles. Sophomore Jonas Hampton rounded out the top 10 finishers for the Hartford men, taking home a ninth place finish in the 5000-meter run, crossing the finish line with a time of 16:01.73.
Rookie Kristalena Lamore led Hawks in the field events, picking up an individual title in the long jump while shattering outdoor records in the long and triple jumps. Lamore dominated the long jump, posting a distance of 5.20-meters and surpassing the second place finisher by 28 cm and breaking the school record by 14 cm. She shattered the outdoor triple jump record with her distance of 10.75-meters for a second place score in the event. Lamore also competed in the 200-meter dash, placing third with a time of 27.25.
A pair of Hawks also finished in the top 10 in the long jump event. Miranda Wallace and Erica Prino took fifth and sixth in the events, recording distances of 4.62-meters and 4.55-meters, respectively. Also finishing in the top 10 in the triple jump for Hartford was Nicolle Adams (4th, 10.31-meters), Raquel Payne (7th, 9.90-meters) and Miranda Wallace (10th, 9.46-meters).
Three members of the women's squad scored top 10 finishes in the javelin throw on Saturday. Sophomore Biliana Mihaylova took sixth with her throw of 29.32-meters, and classmate Flake Gjonbalaj threw a distance of 29.32-meters for a seventh place finish. Junior Kelly Drosnock's throw of 27.56-meters landed her in eighth place overall in the event.
Rebecca Perry, Caitlyn Hauswirth and Adams also saw top 10 finishes for the Hawks on the field side. Perry, a rookie, took home ninth place in the discus throw, throwing for a distance of 32.31-meters in her first collegiate outdoor meet. In the pole vault, Hauswirth shared third place, recording a height of 2.74-meters. Adams' height of 1.37-meters garnered a sixth place finish in the high jump.
On the men's side of the field events, the Hawks were led by senior Anthony Oluwanifise and Ryan Trupin. Oluwanifise continued his dominant senior campaign finishing second in a pair of events. Oluwanifise saw a distance of 13.90-meters in the triple jump, while boasting a distance of 6.41-meters in the long jump. Also joining Oluwanifise in the top-10 finishers in the long jump was classmate Trupin. Trupin rounded out the top-10 with a distance of 5.54-meters. The senior also sported a third place performance in the high jump, tying for the spot with a mark of 1.82-meters.
Finally, the Hawks' relay teams ran top times on Saturday. The men's 4x100-meter finished in first place with Christopher Carr, Christian Ehigiator, Anderson Emerole and Oluwanifise running a time of 43.69. The foursome also broke a school record, beating out the previous time by seven-tenths of a second. The women's 4x400-meter squad ? consisting of Poleto, Bass, Adams and Martinez ? also saw top-billing on Saturday, finishing five seconds ahead of the second place relay team with a time of 4:08.50. Additonally, the women's 4x100-meter relay team placed second with a time of 50.56.
The track and field teams will next compete at the UConn Invitational on Saturday, April 4 in Storrs, CT.
