NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Roger Williams University Men's Track & Field team ran off a sixth-place finish Saturday afternoon at the Silfen Invitational, hosted by Connecticut College.
Freshman Emil Pornelos (Hartford, Vt.) had a banner day leading the team in scoring with 11 points and re-writing the record book in the process. Pornelos took second place in the discus throw with a heave of 134'6” bettering the old mark of 134'1” set in 2002 by Andrew Abhileria. The mark also qualified him to compete in the New England Championship later this month, a feat rarely attained by freshmen. Pornelos also placed 7th in the shot put with a throw of 39'8.75” and 8th in the Javelin with a season-best throw of 134'1”.
“Emil's had his eye on that discus record since he showed up on campus in September”, coach Tom Conley remarked. “He's got the drive of a locomotive and I knew he'd eventually get it, but to be honest, I didn't expect it in his freshman year. To say I'm happy with his performance today would be an understatement.”
In the 200-Meter Dash Chris O'Keefe (Holden, Mass.) and Brian Ki (Windham, N.H.) had their best day of the year, churning out season-best performances of 24.57 and 25.89, respectively. O'Keefe also ran 53.75 in the 400-Meter Dash, which moves him into the #3 spot in the conference.
Donovan Currier (Burlington, Vt.) had season bests in the Shot Put (32'4.75”) and Hammer Throw (104'3”), while Robert Strother (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), currently ranked 6th in the conference in the Shot Put, had a personal best of 32'9” in the event.
Travis Cournoyer (Woonsocket, R.I.) lowered his season and personal best in the 110 High Hurdles with a time of 18.55, and Dan Rathbun (Lakeville, Mass.) had a season-best in the 400-Meter Intermediate Hurdles with a time of 1:02.80. In the 800-Meter Run, Alex Parulis (East Lyme, Conn.) and Jonathan Ellis (Yonkers, N.Y.) each set personal bests with respective times of 1:59.25 and 2:00.31, placing them third and eighth
Roger Williams looks to bring home back-to-back championships this Saturday when the Hawks compete at The Commonwealth Coast Conference Invitational, hosted by Gordon College.
