The University of Rhode Island men’s track and field team placed first at their inaugural outdoor meet of the season at the Bryant Black and Gold Invitational this past Saturday.
Thirteen schools met at the Bryant Track, located in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. There, the Rams absolutely crushed their opponents on the first day of the season. They scored a total of 190 team points, finishing almost double the amount of what Brown University scored, who came in second, with 101.5 points. Several URI runners finished in first place in a total of six events.
Adam Franklin and Anthony Desalanta both finished in first and second place in single-runner races. Franklin placed first in the 110-meter hurdles, with a time of 15.03 seconds. His teammate, Callan Davies, finished third in 15.23 seconds. The two also raced in the 400-meter hurdles. Franklin placed second in 54.06 seconds, and Davies finished in seventh just a few seconds behind him, with a time of 56.54 seconds.
Anthony Desalanta, meanwhile, finished first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.53 seconds, which just barely broke the school record by .08 seconds. The record was set by Nigel Hill set only a few years back. Jordan Ross placed 6th in this race with a time of 50.22 seconds.
Desalanta also placed second in the 200 meter with a time of 21.928 seconds, with his opponent beating him with the extremely narrow margin of .003 seconds. Ross finished eighth in the race with 22.90 seconds, and Jeff Santos finished fifth with a time of 22.68 seconds. Santos also placed third in the 100-meter dash in a time 11.28 seconds, while his teammate Justin Marsland finished sixth with a time of 11.50 seconds.
Desalanta, Franklin, Ross and Santos all participated in the 4×100 meter relay. They finished in third place with a time of 42.24 seconds.
Nathan Coogan, Sam Coppola, Rock Fortna and Tyler Rubush, meanwhile, earned first place in the 4×800 meter race, finishing in 7:53.68.
The other URI first place winners included Derek Jacobs, won the discus competition with a 50.28 meter throw. His teammate Oliver Gunski threw for 45.55 meters and placed fourth, while Nicholas White threw for 42.90 meters, and finished eighth.
Eric Wicks, meanwhile, leaped for 2.02 meters in the high jump and earned yet another first place position for URI. Quindel Wilson was fourth, with a jump of 1.92 meters and Jack Reichenbach was eighth, with a jump of 1.87 meters for URI as well.
The final first-place position earned for URI was in the long jump. Garrett Robinson leaped to victory with a mark of 6.99 meters.
Rhode Island, for their next outdoor meet, will travel to Williamsburg, Virginia, where they will compete at Walter J. Zable Stadium at the Colonial Relays. This race will take place at 10 a.m. this Thursday, April 4.