T&F heads to NEC Championships this Sat.
BULLDOGS COMPETE IN NEC CHAMPIONSHIPS FEB. 11-12
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After training for the past four months, the Bryant University track and field teams head to Andover, Md., this weekend to compete in the Northeast Conference Championships. Competition is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11 and finishes on Sunday, Feb. 12.
The Bulldogs will be aiming to improve upon their 11th- (men) and 12th- (women) place finishes from a year ago. As is the case this year, the Bulldogs were paced by a strong performance from their distance runners last year. Then-freshman Martha Reynolds (London, England) led the way with a sixth-place finish in the mile run with a time of 5:14.19. Ryan Busby (Derry, N.H.) also put together a strong showing, finishing 10th out of 31 runners in the mile run with a time of 4:27.46. Anthony Monteiro (Leominster, Mass.) also finaled at last year's championships, finishing sixth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.60. Bryant also received a strong showing from Chris Brida (Southampton, Mass.), as the then-junior placed 10th in the long jump (6.43m) and seventh in the triple jump (13.53m).
This season, the Black and Gold will once again look to their distance runners to lead the way. The crop of runners includes graduate student Scott Twardowski (Rehoboth, Mass.), senior Ryan Busby, junior David Hurley (Ashaway, R.I.), sophomores Reynolds and Eimear Black (Glengormley, Ireland) and freshmen Brooke Tomasetti (Waterford, Conn.) and Kara Walsh (Waltham, Mass.). Twardowski etched his name into the Bryant record books two weekends ago, setting the program mark in the 3000m run with a time of 8:30.16. Busby and Hurley have both been standout performers in both track and field and cross country, with Hurley earning First Team All-NEC honors this past fall. Reynolds is still looking to regain her freshman year form after suffering a foot injury during the cross country season, while Black is trying to improve upon a 17th-place finish at last year's championships. There is good reason to believe she will, as she won the mile run at the Harvard Invitational in December and finished second at the NEC Cross Country Championships in the fall. Tomasetti and Walsh have emerged as the Bulldogs' top performers in the 800m and 1000m events and will try and make a splash on the conference stage this weekend.
Bryant will also look to obtain strong contributions from its hurdlers and jumpers. Monteiro is the school record-holder in the 60m hurdles and his time of season-best time of 8.44 places him in sixth place on the conference performance list. Jasmine Bryant (Salem, Mass.) has put together a strong freshman campaign so far and hopes to final this weekend in the 60m hurdles. Her school-record time of 9.41 places her 16th among the conference leaders. Pole vaulter Tyler Egner (Niantic, Conn.) set a career-best last weekend with a height of 3.98m and ranks ninth in the conference heading into this weekend.
The Bulldogs will also be looking to qualify for further postseason competition, with the USATF-New England Championships, New England Championships and ECAC Championships coming up in the next three weekends.
Live coverage of this weekend's championships can be found by clicking here. Fans can follow live results, check out past championships and view the event schedule.