Three School Records Fall as Men's Track & Field Competes at UMB Invitational

ROXBURY, Mass. -- Three school records fell as the Bridgewater State University men's indoor track and field team competed at the season-opening UMass Boston Invitational on Saturday held at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Senior Chris Perry (Attleboro, Mass.) captured the individual title in the long jump with a school-record distance of 23 feet, 3.50 inches (7.10 meters). Perry eclipsed classmate Brian Espinosa's (Rehoboth, Mass.) program mark of 23 feet even set last season.

Espinosa, however, would write his name into the Bears' indoor record book as he placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.17 seconds. He shattered the previous mark of 50.27 seconds set by Timothy Judge a season ago.

Senior Chinedu Chukwu (Randolph, Mass.) broke is own school standard in the 60-meter dash as he placed third in the event with a time of 6.93 seconds.  The previous record of 6.95 seconds was recorded last season.

Perry, Espinosa and Chukwu qualified for all three regional postseason championship meets (DIII New England, ECAC, NEICAAA) in their respective events.

The Bears' foursome of Espinosa, junior Kevin Sawyer (Woburn, Mass.) and freshmen Colin Knapton (Mattapoisett, Mass.) and Michael Kotleski (Great Barrington, Mass.) captured top honors in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:28.51.

Sawyer also recorded a second place showing in the 500-meter dash (1:08.11), while senior Chris Naughton (Braintree, Mass.) finished third in the 500 (1:08.43).

Junior Conor Murtagh (Walpole, Mass.) placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a finals time of 8.42 seconds, while freshman Darion Sadri (Northfield, Mass.) finished third in the long jump (21'11.75") and eighth in the high jump (6'2.75").

Murtagh qualifield for all three regional postseason meets in the hurdles, while Sadri qualified for DIII New Englands in both the long jump and the high jump.

Senior Dallas O'Brien (Mansfield, Mass.) added a fourth place finish in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:42.26.

The Bears are off until January 11th when they compete at the 46th Annual Dartmouth Relays.