Men's Track Places 4th at NECs, Sanderson Wins 5,000 Meters

With a gold medal performance in the 5,000 meters and a third place finish in the 3,000, junior Ry Sanderson led the Central Connecticut men's track and field team to their best finish at the Northeast Conference Indoor Championships since joining the league in 1998. The Blue Devils placed fourth out of 12 teams in competition at the 2009 NEC Indoor Championships in Landover, MD. Sanderson recorded a time of 14:51.69 to win the 5,000 and crossed the line in 8:43.31 to grab third in the 3,000 meter run.

Seven other individuals put forth top ten performances to help the Blue Devils tally 58 points and hold off Sacred Heart (55.5) and Bryant (40), who finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Seniors Sean Smith and Matthew Whalen as well as junior R.J. Simeone scored points for CCSU in the track events. Smith placed fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 50.47 seconds. Whalen took home second in the 800, crossing the line in 2:00.53, while Simeone finished the 500 meters in 1:05.86 to place fourth.

Matt Berube, Nick Trifone and Eric Rathbun all finished in the top ten in the high jump at the NEC Championships. Berube grabbed second in the event with a jump of 1.98 meters, while Trifone had a bronze medal performance, jumping 1.92 meters. Rathbun was ninth in the high jump, recording a mark of 1.82 meters.

Berube and Rathbun each recorded 10th place finishes in the long and triple jump, respectively. Berube traveled 6.57 meters to grab 10th in the long, while Rathbun jump 12.92 meters for 10th place in the triple. Tristan Roberts also scored points for the Blue Devils, placing sixth in the triple jump, with a mark of 13.2 meters.

The CCSU 4x400 meter relay team of Dionis White, Simeone, Smith, and Myles Mason placed sixth in a time of 3:25.96. Whalen, Shawn Buchanan, Dan Watson, and Robert Weston made up the Blue Devil distance medley team. They finished in fourth, recording a time of 10:39.63.

St. Francis (PA) won the championship with 121 total points, just edging out Monmouth who finished second, recording 116. Long Island was just ahead of CCSU in third place with 84.5 points.