Senior Garrett Robinson achieved a personal best 14.65 meters in the triple jump to open the season this past weekend. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
The University of Rhode Island Men’s Track and Field team kicked off the indoor season last Saturday at the Boston University’s Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener against over 50 teams from across the country.
“This meet was a non-scoring meet, so we’re not super concerned about how we compare to our competitors,” Rhode Island Men’s Track and Field Coach Trent Baltzell said. “Most meets in the early season are preparation for the championship meets, [so] we’re just looking for quality individual performances from our own athletes.”
Beginning on the track, sophomore Jolon O’Connor got the team’s first victory of the day in the 200-meter run where he ran a time of 22.15. In the same event, sophomore Nathan Barjolo and freshman Julian Thomson also placed in the top five with times of 22.64 and 22.69 respectively.
Freshman Jarrett Young placed second in the 400-meter with a time of 49.19, and in the 1000 meters, junior Collin Ochs and graduate student Nathan Coogan each placed in the top five with times of 2:28 and 2:29 respectively.
Junior Kellen Waters had his personal best in the 3000-meter run, placing 22nd with a time of 8:21. Fellow junior Tyler Rubush followed closely behind him in 24th place with a time of 8:23.
In the 5000-meter run, junior Eric Zulkofske placed 81st with a personal best time of 14:53 and sophomore Ben Fleischer placed 90th with a time of 15:03.
There were also plenty of strong performances in the field events, too.
Senior Garrett Robinson picked up two more victories for the Rams in the jumping events. He placed first in the long jump with a distance of 7.10 meters and first in the triple jump with a distance of 14.65 meters, the highest mark of his career.
“[Garett’s] just the type of guy to put in the work day in and day out,” senior thrower Derek Jacobs said. “It’s just really admirable and we love to see guys like him doing so well.”
The Rams swept the top four positions in the weight with senior Johnathan Buchanan winning the event with a distance of 17.91 meters. He was followed by Jacobs, Jide Akinjisola and Sam Bond.
“I think the performances were pretty solid overall, especially for this early in the season,” Jacobs said. “This just means that we’re starting with really good structure to build off of and learn from. When we peak, we’re going to be that much better when it matters the most.”
Jacobs was also able to finish second in the shot put with a distance of 16.81 meters followed by junior Nick Morse with a distance of 14.47 meters.
Looking forward to the next competition, the team is hoping to keep advancing in their pursuit of another Atlantic 10 title. That work continues at the two-day URI Heptathlon being held at Mackal Field House. The first day of events begins today at 2 p.m. with the competition wrapping up on Friday at 11:30 a.m.