Men's track takes 2nd at meet

01/23/09 - The University of Rhode Island men and women's track and field teams both participated in the Sorlien Invitational at Mackal Field House last Saturday and Thursday, respectively.In its first scored meet, the men's team finished in second place with 121 points.

The University of Connecticut took first place in the meet with 169 points. The other schools included Providence College, Brown University, Bryant University, Southern Connecticut State University and several others.

The Rams had three first place finishers in the meet. Junior Jay Whalen won the heptathlon, which is an event combining seven different typed of events.

Sophomore David Kennedy won the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:04.93, qualifying him for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A)Championships. Kennedy also competed in the 200-meter dash, finishing in third place with a time of 22.52.

Freshman Greg Dean cleared 22 feet 11 inches in the long jump, a first place finish for the Rams.

"Greg [Dean] had a really impressive showing, we were very proud of him," freshman thrower Cory Thalheimer said.

Sophomore Cameron Cormier and Senior Jeffry Martins helped out the team, finishing second in the 400-meter dash and third in the 55-meter dash, respectively.

Junior Derek Peterson finished second in the weight throw with a toss of 55 feet and 4.75 inches. Sophomore Jacob Keeling was also successful for the Rams in the field, finishing fourth in the weight throw and the shot put.

Sophomore Shunzaburo Kida cleared 15 feet 9 inches in the pole vault, finishing in second place and qualifying for both the New England Championships and IC4A Championships.

"We had practice at 9 [a.m.] and 2 [p.m.] every day for a while over break," Thalheimer said. "[Head Coach John Copeland] worked us pretty hard."

The men will continue competition this Saturday in the Rhody Quad at Mackal Field House.

Although the women's meet was not scored, they dominated the competition with their nine first-place finishes.

Sophomore Najila Singleton-McKinnon qualified for the New England Championships with her first-place showing in the 400-meter dash.

In her first collegiate race, freshman Chelsea Jubrey won the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.32 seconds, qualifying for the New England Championships. Fellow freshman sprinter Alexis Capozzi finished in third, just .08 seconds behind Jubrey. Capozzi also finished second in the 200-meter dash.

Freshman Emily Zaccardi finished the 1000 in three minutes flat, earning fourth place and qualifying for New Englands.

"Our entire team did really well, a lot of top five finishers all around," Zaccardi said. "Although it wasn't a scored meet, we did well against tough competition."

Sophomore Lara-Jane Que, freshman Kalyn Sheehan, senior TyLynn Graham, junior Shayna Daugherty and sophomore Stephanie Reusch finished first, second, third, fifth and sixth in the 55-meter hurdles for the Rams, all qualifying for New Englands.

Daugherty also competed in the high jump, winning the event with a leap of 1.67 meters. Also helping the Rams out in the field were junior Ananda Fraser, who won the triple jump, and sophomore Crystal Bourque, who won the weight throw. All three of the URI field- event winners qualified for New Englands with their distances. Fraser's jump was the third longest triple-jump in URI history.

"We had a lot of tough workouts over break," Zaccardi said. "I felt the team really bonded with all our time together."

In the 500-meter dash, Sheehan finished second with a time of 1:17.22. Following Sheehan was junior Natatia Nugent (fourth place) and senior Ashley Robinson (fifth place).

"The workouts over break were very intense, and it clearly paid off," Sheehan said.

The team's next meet is tomorrow at the Terrier Classic at Boston University.