Fitchburg State Excels at Wesleyan's Elmer Swanson Classic
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - The Fitchburg State men's outdoor track and field team competed at the Elmer Swanson meet hosted by Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. There were plenty of qualifying times and distances, as well as personal records set by some Fitchburg State men's track and field athletes.
Junior Nicholas Levenson had a busy day placing 3rd in the 100-meter with a time of 11.29 which qualified for MASCAC and Division III. Levenson also posted a 200-time of 23.08 which placed him at 7th. The 100 meter also had seniors Eric Custadio (11.48), Kwaku Mensah (11.52), and freshman Daniel Nkansah (11.52) rounding out 5th, 6th, and 7th.
Sophomore Connor Flynn finished 10th with a time of 11.76. Not only did they perform well in the 100-meter but Kwaku Mensah and Eric Custadio finished 10th and 11th for the 200-meter with times of 23.42 (Mensah) and 23.35 (Custadio) qualifying both seniors for MASCAC.
In the 400-meter Dash representing the Falcons finishing 2nd at 52.49 was freshman Austin Landress only a quarter of a second away from tying 1st place, but still qualifying for MASCAC.
Next up was the 800 meter which Fitchburg State dominated with both 1st and 2nd place. Richard Ethier, IV had a personal record of 1:58.47 which qualified him for MASCAC, and junior Chauncey Beatty with a time of 1:59.02.
Jake Hastings lead the way in the 1500-meter for the Falcons with a personal record time 4:01.58 which helped qualify the sophomore for MASCAC and D-III. Also MASCAC qualifiers Joseph Darrigo (4:29.06), Liam Eble (4:34.23), Sean Beverly (4:36.57), and Joseph Chamberlin (4:38.98).
Junior Brian Amaral had a great 5000-meter coming in 1st and qualifying for MASCAC and D-III with a final time of 15:24. Anthony Darrigo (16:35.83) also qualified MASCAC finishing 9th.
The 110-meter hurdles featured freshman Cam Stalters who came in 1st place. Stalters also came in 1st place for javelin flying high with 58.37 meters which is a great distance for the freshman. Another freshman Justin Kearns had a throw of 36.90 meters, which placed him at 7th place in the event.
Fitchburg State had a 4x100 relay team that came 2nd place and qualified the squad for MASCAC and D-III. Made up of senior Kwaku Mensah, junior Nick Levenson, senior Eric Custadio, and freshman Daniel Nkansah with a time of 44:54.
Back to the throwers, Brendon Courtney threw for 11.59 meters finishing 3rd qualifying him for MASCAC, and Joseph Bernardini 10.80 meters finished 6th.
Lastly we have our jumpers, Connor Flynn's best distance was 5.93 meters for the long jump qualifying him MASCAC and finishing 2nd. Shaheem Burnett got to 5.24 meters placing him 6th.
Ben Sattiewhite jumped 1.93m finishing 1st as the lone wolf of high jump.
To round off the jumpers senior Akhiel Willis went head to head with Connecticut college's freshman Chris Connor and Willis made up proud with a distance of 12.52 meters.
The Fitchburg State Falcons mens track and field will compete next Saturday April 30th at the MASCAC/Alliance Championship hosted by UMass Dartmouth.
Recap courtesy of Fitchburg State student journalist Kevin Fitzmaurice