Connor Vredenburgh takes first place in the discus
The men’s track & field team placed 4th overall with 62.5 points at the NJCAA Region 3 Championships on Saturday.
The team saw seven new school records get set and multiple personal records or season-best finishes get achieved over the weekend, headlined by Connor Vredenburgh taking first place in the discus. As a result of the success, the team will send five members to the NJCAA D3 National Championship meet this weekend.
As mentioned, Vredenburgh took home 1st place in the discus with 35.21 meters, earning First-Team All-Region, and also took 3rd place in the javelin with 35.34 meters and reached 9.37 meters on the shot put.
David Akulis registered 1.83 meters in the high jump. Cole Farley came in at 4th place overall in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:54.56. Jordan Thomas set a personal record in the 200 meter run with 26.02 seconds, and also received 4.22 meters in the long jump. John Miller set personal records in the discus and shot put with 28.93 meters and 8.26 meters, respectively.
Yuri Brich, Thomas Eccleston, Dandre James, Nathaniel Wojcik, and Vredenburgh all had busy days on Saturday, competing in at least three events each.
Brich took 5th place in the 100 meter dash with 11.82 seconds, finished the 200 meter run in 24.40 seconds, and then was part of the 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relay teams that set new school records, with respective times of 45.17 seconds and 3:43.53. The 4×400 meter relay time of 3:43.53 also took home 3rd place in the event.
Eccleston completed the 110 meter hurdles in 16.39 seconds, good for second place overall in the event. In the 400 meter hurdles, Eccleston finished in 4th place with a season-best time of 1:07.26. Thomas then took 6th place in the high jump with 1.73 meters. Finally, he was also a member of the 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relay teams.
James finished the 100 meter dash in 11.96 seconds, took 4th place in the long jump with 6.13 meters, and set a school record and a personal record in the triple jump with a distance of 12.72 meters, which earned him 5th place in the event. James was also a member of the school-record-setting 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relay teams.
Lastly, Wojcik took 4th place in the 100 meter dash with 11.76 seconds and set a school record and a personal record in the 200 meter run with a time of 23.96 seconds, which was good for 4th place. Wojcik was the fourth member of the 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relay teams.
Miller will attend Nationals for the discus event, Vredenburgh will compete in Nationals for discus and javelin, Akulis will compete in the high jump, Eccleston will compete in the 110 meter hurdles and the high jump at the National meet, and James will compete in the long jump and triple jump.
The 2024 NJCAA Division 3 Track & Field Outdoor National Championships are hosted by Mohawk Valley CC.
Submitted by: Logan Brown
Tags: Athletics
