FULL RESULTS: WESLEYAN TRI MEET | BEACON INVITATIONAL
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – A week after opening their 2022-23 season with a win at the Elm City Challenge and being tabbed to finish second in the conference by the coaches poll, the University of New Haven Men's Track and Field team returned to action for another pair of meets first competing at Wesleyan University for the Wesleyan Mini Tri Meet before traveling to Boston to compete at the Beacon Invitational.
Starting off the weekend, Kenneth Holland (Circleville, N.Y./Pine Bush) opened up the meet for the team finishing first in the prelims of the 60 meter dash crossing with a best time of 7.26 in the first heat. Teammate Dimitri Barnes (Bronx, N.Y./Jonathan Law) finished with a time of 7.29 in heat two of the event having the second heat best time but finishing second to Holland who got the first win of the meet for the Chargers with the blue and gold going one two in the event.
In the 200 meter dash, Elijah Chong finished second. Chong, competing in the second heat watched three of his teammates compete in the first heat before it was his turn. In the second heat, Chong crossed with a time of 23.76 seconds with the second best time in the event.
In the 400 meters, Vonntae Martin (Springfield, MA/Pope Francis Prep) came across the finish line with the third best time for the event. Competing in the second heat, Martin finished third with a time of 55.88 seconds as that time would hold and finish him third overall in the event.
In the 800 meter, Lucas Labar finished with the third best time of the event, crossing with a time of 2:04.93 seconds.
In the men's mile Mohammed Abunar (/) finished with a time of 4:40.49 finishing Abunar in second place in the event for the blue and gold.
The Chargers took home the top two spots in the 60 meter hurdles. In a close battle, Christopher Gregory (/) narrowly beat out Elijah Chong by .01 seconds with Gregory crossing with a time of 8.86 seconds to finish first as Chong crossed with a time of 8.87 to finish second overall.
The men's 4x400 meter relay team of Justin Ortiz (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees), Elijah Espinal (Hamden, Conn./Hamden), Jonathan Parmelee (Piscataway, N.J./Saint Joseph) and Lucas LaBar (Budd Lake, N.J./Mount Olive) finishing third crossing with a time of 3:46.37 seconds.
In the field events the Chargers took home the top two spots in the high jump as Christopher Gregory (/) took home the win with a jump of 1.85 meters ahead of teammate Isiah Gibson (Rahway, NJ/Linden) who took second with a jump of 1.75 meters. Gregory made his first three heights look easy, clearing it on his first jumps before narrowly bumping the bar of 1.85 on his first jump. However Gregory made it with ease on his second for his final height to win the event.
In Pole Vault the blue and gold finished second and third in the event off jumps from Jason Ouellette (Seymour, Conn./Seymour) and Declan McGrellis (/). Oullette and McGrellis both cleared their opening heights of 3.10 meters with ease and made 3.40 look easy. As Ouellette cleared 3.55 meters, McGrellis narrowly missed clearing the bar finishing McGrellis with a final height of 3.40 meters as Ouellette finished second with a final height of 3.55 meters.
In the sand pit, Kenneth Holland (Circleville, N.Y./Pine Bush) took home his second win of the meet beating out teammate Justin Zitofsky (Southington, CT/Southington). Holland finished with a winning jump of 6.55 meters, increasing his mark each jump before his fifth jump landed him his winning mark of 6.55 meters. Teammate Zitofsky landed his second place mark on his second jump. After an opening jump of 5.84 meters, he followed that up with a jump of 6.33 meters moving him into second where he would finish leading the Chargers to a first and second place finish in the event.
Carlos Rivera (/) took home first place in the weight throw and followed that up with a second place finish in shot put. In the weight throw, Rivera had his winning throw of 14.85 meters on his third and fourth throws hitting that mark twice. Rivera increased his mark on each throw and hit that winning mark twice. Following the weight throw Rivera continued his success throwing his second place throw on his very first throw. With a mark of 13.19 meters, Rivera finished in second place and ahead of teammate J'Quan Athis (/).
After coming off winning conference field rookie of the week, took home second place in the weight throw and third place in the shot put. In the weight throw, Athis gradually increased his mark on each throw before his second place mark of 14.27 meters came on his fifth throw. Moving over to shot put and warmed up, Athis landed two marks with his fifth mark of 12.50 meters finishing him in third place in the event.
In Boston, Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) continued his dominance in the hurdles. Finishing with the second best time in prelims running 8.39, Dely turned it on in the finals shaving .19 seconds off his time running a 8.20 in the finals and running the fastest time winning the event making that his third win in the event on the year.
The 4x400 meter relay team of Ryan Williams (Malverne, N.Y./Valley Stream North), Nile Colson (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute), Blake Jandreau (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) and Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) finished second in the meet crossing with a time of 3:21.40.
In the sand pit, Zerion Montgomery (Derby, Conn./Derby) took home second place. Montgomery hit his second place finishing jump of 6.65 meters on his second jump of the event. With an opening jump of 6.27 meters, Montgomery found his stride and soared to the mark of 6.65 meters moving him to second place.
With four meets in the books, the team now heads on winter break before returning to action in the new year with a pair of meets on January 14th. The team will be split with members traveling to New London to compete at the US Coast Guard Invitational while others take the trip back to Southern Connecticut to compete at the I-95 Showdown. All updates, schedules and post meet recaps for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.
