NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In the first meet of the new year the University of New Haven Men's and Women's Track team split their squad up sending part of the team to cross town rival Southern Connecticut State to compete in the I-95 Showdown meet between the Chargers, the Owls of Southern Connecticut and the Purple Knights of Bridgeport. 

Dimitri Barnes (Bronx, N.Y./Jonathan Law) opened up the meet for the blue and gold running in the 55m dash. Running a 7.04 in the prelims, Barnes moved into the finals for the event and shaved .15 seconds off of his prelim time to finish second overall in the event for the Chargers.

Competing in the 55m dash for the women, Molly Clark (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) opened up her afternoon, running an 8.81 in the prelims to move her into the finals of the event where she would run a 9.03 crossing with the second fastest time in the event.

In the sand pit Caden Bry (Chaska, Minn./Wayzata) and Cameron Picard both found themselves on the leader board at the end of the event. Bry made up for fouling his first jump by hitting marks of 6.28 meters on both his second and third jump sending him into second place in the leader board. After matching his marks on those two jumps that mark would hold for Bry to finish him in second place in the event. Teammate Cameron Picard opened up his day with a jump of 6.07 meters before hitting that mark on his final jump for the event to finish Picard in third with the blue and gold going second and third in the event.

In Pole Vault freshman Declan McGrellis (Frederica, Md./Frederica) finished second overall with a mark of 3.80 meters. After clearing the first two heights of 3.05 meters and 3.20 meters on his first tries, McGrellis went down to the wire clearing 3.35 meters on his third attempt. He then would bounce right back clearing 3.50 and 3.65 with ease on his first attempts. His final mark of 3.80 meters put the pressure on but on his third attempt he cleared the height finishing McGrellis in second place for the event.

On the women's side, Molly Clark (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) continued to fly high in Pole Vault taking home the win with a jump of 2.75 meters. With opening height at 2.45 meters, Clark cleared it on her first attempt before moving up to 2.60 meters where once again Clark flew over with ease. At 2.75 meters, Clark again cleared on her first attempt setting the bar for the competition as that mark would be the winning mark earning Clark the win in the event.

In the men's shot put, Davon Colon (Cromwell, Conn./Xavier) finished third overall with a final mark of 14.55 meters. Colon reached that mark on his first throw. Colon set the mark for himself and came close but the mark set by his first throw would be his best finishing him in third in the event.

Isabelle Robinson (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne) and Vanessa Connolly (Portland, Maine/Portland) went one two in the women's shot put with Robinson throwing a mark of 11.72 meters followed by Connolly with a mark of 10.45 meters. Robinson set the mark for the field improving her mark each throw after an opening toss of 10.85 meters. She would set her winning mark on her fourth throw putting the pressure on the field. Connolly followed in the steps of Robinson improving her mark on each of her throws. Connolly's mark of 10.45 meters came on her fifth toss moving her into second place behind Robinson in first with the mark of 11.72 meters to take the top two spots.

Back in the sand pit, Akin Akinwunmi (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) finished second overall in the event with a jump of 12.65 meters. After fouling his first two jumps, Akinwunmi found his stride on his third jump setting a mark of 12.13 meters. He would then increase his mark on each of his next jumps before he found the perfect step landing a jump of 12.65 meters to move him into second overall in the event.

In the women's weight throw Elise Dodel (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) finished first overall followed by teammate Megan Ruoff in third for the Chargers. Doodle opened up the event with a throw of 12.45 meters and set the mark for everyone and herself. Each of her throws, Dodel increased her mark, before her final throw of the event, Dodel found everything, throwing a mark of 13.82 meters to finish in first for the event and take home the win. Megan Ruoff opened up with a throw of 11.10 meters before on her second throw landed her mark of 12.08 meters. She came close to beating that mark on her fourth throw but that mark of 12.08 meters would stand, finishing her in third overall in the event.

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.