For the second time in the month of February, the men’s and wom- en’s track teams traveled to the Reggie Lewis Center, this time for the biggest meet of their season: the NE-10 Championships. Com- ing into the meet, the women’s team was tabbed to finish sixth by the conference coaches poll, and the men’s team was set for 3rd in the conference behind American International College (AIC) and crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). The program sent 20 members of the women’s team and 29 from the men’s team to compete.

Women’s Team

Kristen Washington jumped into the sand and walked away with two silver medals. Washington first went into it with a seeded jump, followed by her rival from SCSU just behind her. Those two battled it out through the preliminaries and into the finals of long jump. After fouling her first jump she found her mark and progressively increased her distance. On her final jump, Washington landed a jump of 5.61 meters which would hold against the field and earn Washington her first medal.

Following the long jump, Washington went back to work in the pit, competing in the triple jump. After fouling her first two attempts, she moved into the finals on her third jump marked at 10.83 meters. Washington quickly found her stride in the finals marking 11.21 meters on her second jump. She broke out with an impressive closing jump of 11.79 meters which moved her up three posi- tions on the leaderboard and into second place for her second silver medal. Washington’s jump in the triple jump qualified her for the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan. on March 11 and 12.

The Chargers continued to dominate the field and earned their medals as over in the circle, Jalynn McCown won a silver medal in the weight throw. On her first attempt of the event, McCown took com- mand, throwing herself into second place at 14.71 meters. The throw pushed McCown into the finals where she continued to be around that mark securing a silver medal.

In the final field event of the meet, Hope Cuomo took flight and took home a bronze medal in the high jump. In her second day of jumping, after clearing 1.51 meters in the high jump in the pentath- lon, Cuomo had the mark that she needed to beat. After clearing the first two heights on her first jump, she went down to the wire clearing 1.48 meters on her third and final jump at that height. She went on to clear 1.53 meters on her first jump of the proceeding height, beating her jump from the pentathlon. She finished with a height of 1.53 meters placing her in third and after missing a medal in the pentathlon by five points, she took home the bronze medal.

Men’s Team

Jordan Emile took home the first medal, silver, in the Heptathlon. The two day event started Thurs- day morning with Emile starting out hot, winning the 60 meter dash and jumping to the top of the leaderboard. He followed up the win with a first place finish in the hurdles where his closest compet- itor was a half second behind him. Emile finished second in the long jump and high jump. It came down to the final event on Friday as the top three competitors were separated by less than 200 points. The 1000 meter made the difference as Emile finished sixth in the event and second overall with a personal best of 4509 points, just 20 points behind the first place finisher. Emile finished the heptathlon earn- ing 4509 total points which broke his own previous school record set at the URI Heptathlon set at the beginning of the season when he scored 4273 points.

Just as they did all year, the Chargers found success in the sand as Jonathan Cineus walked away with his silver medal in the triple jump. After just missing a medal in the long jump, Cineus was not going to be denied a medal at the meet. Seeded at 14.24 meters, Cineus broke that on his third jump with 14.25 meters, pushing him through to the finals. After fouling and missing 14 meters, Cineus came back and jumped 14.60 me- ters which earned Cineus the silver medal. Not only did Cineus win a silver medal, his jump of 14.60 meters cleared the NCAA provisional mark, qualifying him for the NCAA Division 2 Track and Field Championships.

The friendly rivalry between Jordany Dely and Abdiel Tejada continued at Conference as the two pushed each other through to the finals and into a silver medal for the Chargers. After breaking the 60 meter Hurdle record at the URI Heptathlon, Dely’s record did not last long as Tejada broke it again at the Yale season opener setting the new record at (8.27). At the conference, Dely with a vision in mind, flew through the hurdles crossing in a time of 8.18, taking back his school record from Tejada and earning himself a silver medal in the event. Dely’s time in the
hurdles also qualified him for the NCAA Division 2 Track and Field Championships.

In the final event for the men, the 4×400 meter relay team of Ryan Williams, Blake Jandreau, Jordany Dely and Kevin Leach- Brown closed out the Conference championships with yet another medal. Seeded with a time of 3:21.26, the team raced in the same heat as rivals AIC and SCSU. Williams came out of the blocks hot and held a slight lead into the hand off to Dely. After a back and forth battle in the middle splits, Leach-Brown received the handoff in second just behind AIC. He held off the pressure from SCSU for a second place finish just behind AIC crossing with a time of 3:19.57 and beating their seeded time and rival Southern to take home the silver for the team.

As a whole, the Chargers won seven individual medals: six silver and one bronze, as well as four silver medals for the 4×400 meter relay in the championships and totaled 66 points, only one point behind their rivals SCSU.
With the conclusion of the indoor season, the team now looks forward to the outdoor season, building off of the success they just found.