The University of Rhode Island men’s track and field team competed at the University of Central Florida’s Black & Gold Challenge in Orlando, Fla., on Friday and Saturday, as it marked the start of the outdoor season.
Sixth-year Matt Santy finished second in the long jump event on Friday, only behind University of Iowa second-year Emmanuel Njoku at 7.95 meters. Santy jumped a personal best distance of 7.71 meters.
“It’s just a culmination of the work I’ve put in throughout my career and how I’ve developed as an athlete, both physically and mentally,” Santy said. “I joked with [URI Head Coach Trent Baltzell] this weekend about how I’ve never been happy about a [personal best], and that is still pretty true. I believe I have a lot more that I can give and a lot more I can put out there on the track.”
Two other Rams finished in the top five, with fifth-year Izzy Henriques-Setho finishing right behind Santy in third with a leap of 7.50 meters, and fifth-year Joachim Ennoo finished fifth with a jump of 7.43 meters.
“[The meet] ended up being a lot more productive than we typically get out of our spring opener,” Baltzell said. “We brought probably more athletes than we normally would and came home with a ton of [personal bests].”
Also on Friday, third-year Theo Puterbaugh earned fourth place out of 23 competitors in the shot put with a toss of 17.43 meters, and second-year Douglas Ledger placed fourth out of 15 in the javelin event with a distance of 58.69 meters.
On Saturday, Santy finished in third place in the high jump event. Santy cleared the same height of 2.15 meters as Clemson University fourth-years Brandon Pottinger and Shyhiem Scotland, but officially earned third place as it took him all three tries to clear the 2.15 meter mark.
“It’s remarkable,” Baltzell said. “He just continues to get better and better. He’s a veteran of the sport, and he knows his body. He is a really, really, really tough competitor.”
First-year Josia Katroli placed fourth, right behind Santy, clearing a personal best height of 2.12 meters. Fellow first-year Lucas Andrade placed eighth in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.41 seconds. This was the first time Andrade ran an event over 60 meters.
“It was very important that [Andrade] come down to open his season 110 meters in the hurdles and 100 meters in the dash,” Baltzell said. “He could get a better feel for the race and use this meet as a training opportunity, because we can’t really train that distance here at Rhode Island in March. So, whenever you have an opportunity to go down and do it in good weather, then you have to jump on that.”
The Rams will compete in two events next week: the Raleigh Relays from Thursday to Saturday and the Jaylin Rainford Invitational from Friday to Saturday, as the team continues its push toward another Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championship after coming up short last season.
