Duka, Park medal as Bulldogs cap historic championship meet

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Freshmen Milan Duka (Belgrade, Serbia) and MiaLynne Park (Jewett City, Conn.) both earned bronze medals as the Bryant University track and field team wrapped up a historic performance at the Northeast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in Landover, Md.

The Bulldogs recorded their highest point total in program history on both the men's and women's side. The women finished with 26 points, while the men totaled 25. Sacred Heart won the women's team title and LIU Brooklyn claimed their second-straight men's title.

Duka and Park shined bright on the final championships, bringing a pair of medals back to Smithfield. Duka, who finished fifth in the prelims Saturday, ran six seconds faster in the final, finishing third with a time of 4:24.67. Park also finished fifth in the prelims of the 400 but posted a season-best time of 58.88 to grab a bronze medal on Sunday.

Top Performers:

The Bulldogs also had three other near medal performances from Adam Malone (Speonk, N.Y.), Kristen Hayes (Menands, N.Y.) and Annmarie Tuxbury (New Hartford, Conn.).

After setting a school record in the 500 on Saturday, Hayes broke the record again on Sunday, finishing fourth with a time of 1:16.75.

Malone finished fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 14.14m.

Tuxbury just missed out on medaling for the second-straight day, finishing fourth with a time of 17:35.60 in the 5000.

Nicholas Douglas (Shelton, Conn.) finished seventh in the 400 with a time of 51.26.

Kehma Johnson (Milford, Mass.) joined Malone in the triple jump finals, finishing seventh with a jump of 13.55m.

Bryant's relay teams also scored points on Sunday. The 4x400 team of Deion Raper (Brockton, Mass.), Justin Patterson (Marshfield, Mass.), Patrick Sheridan (Marshfield, Mass.) and Douglas finished seventh with a time of 3:26.7.

Duka, Antonio Siracusa (Bridgewater, Mass.), Thomas Mullally (Mastic Beach, N.Y.) and Richard Landry (Holyoke, Mass.) combined to lead the Bulldogs to a seventh-place finish in the men's DMR. They posted a time of 10:42.1.