Men's track earns 2 first place finishes at UConn

04/09/09 - The University of Rhode Island men's track team competed in its second meet of the spring season on Saturday at the University of Connecticut Alumni Invitational, earning two first place finishes along the way. "It was cold and windy," sophomore David Kennedy said. "You can't let the weather affect you though."

The Rams competed against some challenging competition, including Providence College, Hartford University, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Brown University and Central Connecticut State University.

When asked how the team would have done if the meet had been scored, Kennedy responded, "I think we would have done decently, definitely top three. Some teams just have sprinters and some have just distance. We are very balanced."

The combination of senior Jeffrey Martins and freshman Nicholas Guscott were excellent for the Rams in the first event, the 100-meter dash. Martins finished first 11.11 seconds, and Guscott finished right behind him in a time of 11.20 seconds.

URI was not as successful in the 110-meter hurtles, with no one finishing in the top five. Senior Alex Reid was the top finisher for the Rams in the race, finishing seventh in a time of 15.73.

Kennedy blew away the competition in the 200-meter dash, winning at a season-best time of 22.01. Martins continued his success for the Rams, finishing third in the race.

In the 400-meter hurtles, junior Brian Alexander grabbed second place at a time of 57.36. Sophomore Ryan Best was not too far behind Alexander, finishing seventh at a time of 58.97.

"We have been looking strong as a team," Kennedy said. "We are working through the meets towards championship season."

The men's 800-meter run was dominated by Providence, which provided the top three runners in the race. Sophomore Nick Sanborn had the best showing for URI, finishing eighth with a time of 1:57.63.

Senior Ryan Karwiel finished fourth out of eight runners in the 3000-meter steeplechase, clocking a time of 9:55.09.

UConn controlled the 1500-meter run, finishing four of the top seven runners as well as five of the top 10.

Rhody had impressive showings in multiple field events, such as the long jump.

Sophomore Shunzaburo Kida was the Rams' top performer, finishing fourth with a jump of 6.49 meters. Freshmen Andrew Reigstad (6.44m) and Greg Dean (6.37m) finished fifth and seventh respectively for URI.

Freshman Justin Nicoll, competing in his first meet for URI, finished fifth in the hammer throw with a toss of 50.39 meters.

In the shot put, junior Tyler Adams led the Rams with his fourth-place throw of 15.70 meters. Sophomore Jacob Keeling (14.08m), junior Derek Peterson (13.97m) and freshman Corey Thalheimer (13.83m) finished seventh through ninth respectively in the event for the Rams.

Senior John Carstensen tied for second place in the pole vault with a performance of 14 feet 11 inches.

URI's 4x100 relay team lost an excruciatingly tight race, finishing second to UConn by one-hundredth of a second. Competing for the Rams in the event were Guscott, Martins, Dean and Kennedy.

"It was one of those finishes that you just don't know who wins," Kennedy said. "It took 30 minutes to find out who won the race."

The next meet for the Rams is this Saturday, when they travel to Providence to compete in the Brown University Invitational.

"We are all looking to improve times this race," Kennedy said. "It'll be a good meet for a lot of the guys.