TRACK AND FIELD’S O’CONNOR, TWARDOWSKI AND DOYLE HIGHLIGHT WEDNESDAY’S TRI-MEET
March 31, 2010
TRACK AND FIELD’S O’CONNOR, TWARDOWSKI AND DOYLE HIGHLIGHT WEDNESDAY’S TRI-MEET
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After being pushed back one day due to weather conditions, the Bryant outdoor track and field opener was run successfully on Wednesday at the on-campus Track and Turf Complex. The three-team tri-meet, a primer for Saturday’s Bryant Invitational, consisted of teams from Bryant University, Providence College and Stony Brook.
Although the Bryant men fell to Providence by a slim five-point margin, they defeated Stony Brook 52-32 on Wednesday afternoon. Junior Thomas O’Connor (Westwood, Mass.) got the Bryant men started on the right foot as he opened the outdoor season with wins in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. O’Connor finished with an 11.17 in the 100 meter and won the 200 meter in convincing fashion with a 22.44. Freshman Joseph Pugliano (West Springfield, Mass.) finished fourth and third in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, respectively.
Junior Scott Twardowski (Rehoboth, Mass.) put in a stellar performance on Wednesday as well, winning the men’s 1500 meter by exactly one second. Twardowski ran the event in 4:06.88 while Providence’s Corey Brunelle crossed the line exactly one second later. Sophomore Ryan Busby (Derry, N.H.) and freshman David Hurley (Ashaway, R.I.) placed fourth and fifth in the event, respectively.
The Bulldogs’ male squad concluded their action on the track with a second-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay, finishing just less than three seconds behind the PC men. That team consisted of O’Connor, Pugliano, junior Andrew Fitzgerald (New Hartford, Conn.) and Ben Polichronopoulos (South Berwick, Maine).
Sophomore Chris Brida (Southampton, Mass.) also registered a first-place finish in the men’s long jump, finishing with a jump of 18.84 feet while Bryant’s Kevin Ward (Melrose, Mass.) finished in second place in the javelin throw with a toss of 50.94 meters.
Bryant was unable to pull off any dual-meet wins on the women’s side, but freshman Dierdre Doyle (Carlow, Ireland) continued her outstanding freshman year with a win in the 1500 meter to start the outdoor portion of her season. Doyle, who won two Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week honors during the cross country season, won the 1500 meter with a 4:40.09. She finished 1.47 seconds better than Providence’s Katie DiCamillo.
In other women’s events, Bryant’s Sherika Nicholas (East Patchogue, N.Y.) finished third in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes while sophomore Joanna Chanaj (Peabody, Mass.) and senior Melanie Farbotko (Brookline, N.H.) finished second and third in the women’s high jump, respectively. Chanaj registered a jump of 1.57 meters, while Farbotko hit a high of 1.51 meters. Both finished behind Providence’s Caitlin Lawrence, who jumped 1.62 meters.
The Bryant track and field teams return to action on Saturday, April 3 at 10 a.m. for the annual Bryant Invitational. With the addition of the Bulldogs, Stonehill, Providence, Mass Bay Community College, Rhode Island, Bridgewater State, UMass Dartmouth, Holy Cross and American International will all be in attendance.