EASTON, Mass. – With the regular season over it was time for the conference championships held at Stonehill College. Following a successful Indoor season and regular season the Men's Track and Field Team looked to make some noise and add to their collection of postseason accolades. Entering the team was picked to finish third by the coaches but the team looked to be even higher than that at the end of Saturday with the completion of the relays.
Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) continued to strive in the hurdles taking home his first medal in the 110 Hurdles. With the top qualifying time on Friday running (14.55), Dely had to show the speed again on Saturday in the finals. Dely in the finals beat out not only everyone in the field but also his qualifying time running (14.48) in the finals to take home the gold medal. Competing alongside Dely, was Jordan Emile (/) who ran (15.09) in the prelims to qualify for the finals as well. In the finals Emile would go on to run a (14.90) to finish in third place for the bronze medal leading New Haven to their first two medals of the meet.
In the 400 meter dash Kevin Leach-Brown (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) added to the medal count taking home bronze in the event. Qualifying for the finals, Leach-Brown ran (49.06) in the prelims running the fourth best time to run again on Saturday. In the finals, Leach-Brown trimmed half a second off his time and doing that moved him into third place and won him a bronze medal running (48.53).
The sand pit had been where the Chargers lived all year, and at Conference that was no different for Jacky Marescot (Spring Valley, N.Y./Ramapo) and Zerion Montgomery (/). The duo went one two in the long jump winning two more medals to add to the count for New Haven. Marescot opened up the event jumping 6.55 meters and never looked back, jumping further and further and setting the distance to beat. Marescot set the bar high on his third jump, jumping 6.92 meters but he still had more in him. On his fifth jump, he put it completely out of reach beating his own mark and jumped the winning mark, 6.95 meters, winning him the gold. Alongside Marescot, Zerion Montgomery (/) was right behind and waited until his last jump to lock up second place. Entering his final jump, Montgomery was tied for second with a jumper from Southern Connecticut, both at 6.74 meters, but Montgomery had no intentions of sharing. On his final jump, Montgomery jumped 6.82 meters moving him into solo second place and winning him the silver medal and adding another two medals to the count.
Continuing in the pit the Chargers added another two medals in the triple jump Kenneth Holland (Circleville, N.Y./Pine Bush) and Jonathan Cineus (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) both earning medals. Jonathan Cineus (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) sat atop the leaderboard after his second jump of 13.96 meters and would be there until the very end. Kenneth Holland (Circleville, N.Y./Pine Bush) was looking up to Cineus and after getting close on his fifth jump, jumping 13.93 meters, Holland beat everyone and surpassed Cineus jumping 14.32 meters moving into first place and winning the gold. Cineus's jump of 13.96 meters would remain his best and would keep him on the podium finishing third taking home the bronze and another two medals for the blue and gold.
It all came down to the final event for the men, the 4x400 meter relay. The cross-town rivalry between New Haven and Southern Connecticut State continued in Easton into the relay. The two teams were neck and neck battling each other through each split until the final straight away of the final leg. Kevin Leach-Brown (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) and Marquis Whyte of Southern were battling with each other in what looked like would be a photo finish until Whyte fell and Leach-Brown took full advantage creating the gap, crossing and winning for New Haven. The team of Ryan Williams (Malverne, N.Y./Valley Stream North), Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic), Blake Jandreau (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall), and Leach-Brown crossed in 3:15.82 taking home the gold for New Haven.
As a whole the team finished with 11 medals and 124.5 points to finish in third place overall in the conference scoring the teams most points in history and going down to the wire to beat cross town rival Southern Connecticut in the 4x400 relay finish the meet. With the first part of the postseason complete the team now turns their attention to New England's next weekend where the pressure and competition will be even greater but the rewards will be even sweeter. New Englands will be held and Bryant University and the team will look to their postseason accolades next week.
