NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Union College men's outdoor track & field team finished in eighth place at the Coast Guard Academy Invitational, held on Saturday at Nitchman Field.
The Garnet Chargers posted six Liberty League Championship qualifiers, one AARFTC Championship qualifier, five personal bests and six top-five finishes on the afternoon
.
Union's top performance on the track came from senior
Ben Neff, who took top honors in the 1500 meters by crossing the line in 4:03.65 to win the event by over two-tenths of a second and qualify for the Liberty League Championships. Junior
Will Plante and sophomore
Michael Fitzmaurice both earned top-10 finishes as well in the event, with Plante finishing ninth in a season-best 4:11.31 and Fitzmaurice taking 10th in a career-best 4:11.77. Sophomore
Bretton Garrick also posted the best time of his career by finishing in 4:15.14.
Neff also earned fourth place out of 41 runners in the 800 meters with a time of 2:00.51. Fitzmaurice also placed in the top-10 with a time of 2:03.73 to place ninth overall, while Plante's time of 2:05.63 was the best outdoor time of his career.
First-year
Aidan Bradley earned a top-five finish in the 400-meter dash, placing fifth in 52.10 seconds.
In the field events, Union's best event came in the javelin throw, with juniors
Nick Entner and
Mason Lang finishing second and third. Entner qualified for both Liberty Leagues at the AARTFC Championships with a season-best mark of 51.05 meters that placed him second, followed by Lang with a conference-qualifying mark of 49.22 meters.
Lang nabbed two other top-10 finishes as well, placing fifth in the shot put with a top distance of 12.74 meters and throwing the hammer 37.69 meters to place 10th overall to qualify for Liberty Leagues in both events. Entner also made the conference meet with a 13th-place finish in the hammer, registering a career-best mark of 36.38 meters, while classmate
Tony Cocchiaro's mark of 33.97 meters in the event was the best of his career as well.
Union will be back in action on Friday at RPI's Under the Lights Invitational.
