The University of New Haven’s men’s track and field team competed at the UConn Spring Invite in Storrs on Saturday, March 30, where they achieved nine personal records.

The Chargers competed against Division I programs Connecticut and Rhode Island in addition to several unattached athletes.

Freshman Jamaal James set a personal record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.55 seconds. James also ran the 200-meter dash in a time of 23.48 seconds, finishing behind graduate student David Thomas, who ran the dash in 21.84 seconds.

Sophomore Nazim Roberts-Smith also ran the 200-meter dash in 24.59 seconds, along with finishing the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.36 seconds.

Freshman Taylor DenBleyker competed in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles for the first outdoor meet of his collegiate career. He ran a time of 58.28 seconds. Freshman Kymm Gordon finished after DenBleyker with a time of 1:04.03 minutes for his first collegiate competition.

James, Thomas, freshman Ato Pinkrah, and senior Kendrick Butler clocked in at 43.85 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay. In the 4×400-meter relay, Roberts-Smith, James, sophomore Joseph Kingston, and DenBleyker finished with a time of 3:29.48 minutes and were followed by the foursome of freshman Chad Messam, seniors Marvin Azor and Arnold Lane and freshman Sean Grady with a time of 3:35.67.

For distance events, Messam also ran the 800-meter run, where he led the Chargers and improved his time from last weekend in Virginia with a personal record of 2:03.62 minutes. Sophomore Ryan Parris and Azor also ran the 800-meter and finished the event in 2:06.13 and 2:07.81 minutes, respectively.

In the 1,500-meter run, Grady also set a new personal record with a time of 4:05.97 minutes, while Lane finished in 4:22.15 minutes.

Thomas bettered his NCAA provisional mark and won the long jump with a personal outdoor-best jump of 7.30 meters. Sophomore Tyler Valalik also competed in the long jump and finished with a distance of 6.49 meters, while freshman Jason Bielesz leapt 5.38 meters in his first career outdoor meet.

For the throwing events, freshman Jordan Rippe improved his mark from last weekend in two events. He hurled the shot put 12.53 meters and recorded a throw of 36.56 meters in the hammer throw.

Both the men and women’s track and field team return to action next Saturday at the George Davis Invitational hosted by Massachusetts Lowell.