NEW LONDON, Conn. – With half the team competing at the I-95 Showdown, the other half of the University of New Haven Men's and Women's Track Team team traveled to New London to compete at the US Coast Guard Invitational.
In the 4x200 meter relay the Chargers swept the event and in the process set the facility record in the process. The Chargers put three teams into the event with the team of Ryan Williams (Malverne, N.Y./Valley Stream North), Blake Jandreau (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall), Jason Lorent (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) and Nile Colson (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) finishing with a time of 1:31.13 winning and setting the facility record. The team of Elijah Smith (Atlanta, Ga/George), Jordan Emile (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton), Christopher Gregory (Brockton, Mass./Southeastern Regional) and Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) finished second with a time of 1:33.23 and Kenneth Holland (Circleville, N.Y./Pine Bush), Cole Parker (Severn, Md./Annapolis Area Christian School), Alexander Solares and Elijah Espinal (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) finished third with a time of 1:25.16 to complete the sweep in the event.
Ryan Williams (Malverne, N.Y./Valley Stream North) and Nile Colson (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) opened up the meet with the top two finishes in the 55 meter dash. Going one two in the prelims with Williams edging out Colson by .04 seconds, Williams again edged out Colson by .04 seconds again with Williams running a time of 6.65 seconds and Colson running 6.69 seconds.
In the 400 meter it was the Chargers again taking home the top two spots with Nile Colson (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) taking home first with a time of 52.33 seconds just ahead of teammate Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) who crossed with a time of 52.98 seconds.
In the 600 meters it was Blake Jandreau (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) and Christopher Gregory (Brockton, Mass./Southeastern Regional) going one two with times of 1:26.01 and 1:32.04 respectively to take the top two spots in the event claiming fourth win of the meet.
In the 1000 meter Lucas Labar finished second overall with a time of 2:45.69 ahead of teammate Daniel Barberio (Leland, N.C./Holy Trinity Diocesan) who finished third overall with a time of 2:47.72.
In the men's mile Dathan Chann (Riverside, Calif./Martin Luther King) crossed with a time of 4:46.16 to finish in second place in the event ahead of teammate Jacob Carson (Seymour, Conn./Notre Dame (West Haven)) who finished in third with a time of 4:48.87 meters.
Jordan Emile (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) took home the fifth win of the meet for the Chargers in the 55m Hurdles beating out teammate Jordany Dely (Spring Valley, N.Y./Paramus Catholic). After Dely narrowly beat Emile in the prelims by .01 seconds, it was Emile who beat out Dely in the finals with the winner being decided by thousandths of a second with both running 7.88s in the finals.
The Chargers Distance Medley team of Daniel Barberio (Leland, N.C./Holy Trinity Diocesan), Jonathan Parmelee (Piscataway, N.J./Saint Joseph), Lucas LaBar (Budd Lake, N.J./Mount Olive) and Dathan Chann (Riverside, Calif./Martin Luther King) finished in second place crossing with a time of 11:40.33.
In the sand pit the Chargers swept both the long jump and triple jump. Kenneth Holland (Circleville, N.Y./Pine Bush) took the win in the long jump and finished third in the triple jump as it was Jonathan Cineus (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) winning triple jump and finishing third in long jump. In the long jump Holland finished with a final mark of 6.46 meters followed by Cole Parker (Severn, Md./Annapolis Area Christian School) with a mark of 6.42 meters and Cineus in third with a mark of 6.32 meters. In triple jump Cineus took home the win with a mark of 13.58 meters followed by Rutchlor Louis (Spring Valley, N.Y./Ramapo) with a mark of 13.47 meters and Holland in third with a mark of 13.42 meters.
The women's team broke two facility record first in the 4x200 relay as the team of Savannah Sistrunk (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Academy of Arts & Sciences), Daphna Gerber (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), Kalaya Fitch (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) and Deja Harris crossing in a time of 1:49.52 breaking the previous facility record of 1:52.12 that was set it 1998.
Kristen Washington (New Haven, Conn./James Hillhouse) broke the second facility record in the triple jump, a part of her two win day at the meet. Washington's winning jump in the triple jump of 11.37 meters broke the previous best mark of 11.1 meters (36'5) set back in 1996. That win was Washington's first as she led the Chargers in a sweep in the long jump taking home first with a mark of 5.28 meters.
Gabrielle Teel (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Moreland) finished second in both the long jump and triple jump behind Washington with a mark of 5.02 meters in the long jump and a mark of 11.02 meters in the triple jump. Teammate Emily Mazzucco (East Haven, Conn./East Haven) finished third in the long jump with a mark of 4.93 meters to finish third and complete the sweep in the event for the blue and gold.
Savannah Sistrunk (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Academy of Arts & Sciences) took home third place in the 55 meter dash. With the third fastest time in the prelims, Sistrunk ran a 7.54 in the finals finishing her in third place overall in the event.
Kalaya Fitch (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) finished second overall in the 400 meter crossing with a time of 1:03.16.
In the 1000 meter Rina Stanghellini (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) finished second overall with a time of 3:27.92.
New Haven's distance medley relay team of Angelina Schilling (Sewell, N.J./Deptford Township), Hannah Swain (Nashua, N.H./Nashua South), Da-Xia Colon and Isabella Bostic (Saint Johnsbury, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) finished third with a time of 14:39.47.
In the high jump Diana Zamudio (Huacho, Peru/Instituto Particular Abdon Calderon (Ecuador)) finished third overall with a final mark of 1.46 meters. After passing on opening height, Zamudio cleared 1.41 meters on her first attempt with ease, and cleared 1.46m on her first jump as well with ease. Zamudio attempted 1.51 and narrowly missed clearing, finishing with a height of 1.46 meters finishing third.
The Chargers return home now before another busy weekend of two meets as the teams return to the track on Friday January 20th when they travel to the Armory Track in New York to compete at the Ramapo Season Opener before they head again to Southern Connecticut State on Sunday January 22 to compete at the William Sutherland Invitational. All updates, schedules and post meet recaps for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.
