The Central Connecticut State University men’s and women’s track and field teams posted several personal bests at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational this past weekend at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

In what was their last competition before the indoor track and field Northeast Conference Championships, the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Friday, Feb. 14 and Saturday, Feb.15

The women got things started on Friday with five personal bests. Freshman Kamilah Diaz and sophomore Briyanna Labbie both put up personal bests in the 400-meter dash with times of 1:01.77 and 1:01.98 respectively. Senior Megan Brawner was able to post a personal best in the one mile run with a time of 4:55.15. Freshman Ashley Dana ran a collegiate-best 2:15.85 in the 800-meter run. Freshman Magnalen Camara finished the 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 26.21 seconds.

The men, not to be outdone, followed and competed on Saturday and were able to post seven personal bests of their own.

Freshman Ryan McCauley posted a personal best of 1:56.07 in the 800-meter run. Junior Miles Fye-Moore and freshman Carlos Villarini both crossed the finish line in the 200-meter dash with personal bests of 21.83 seconds and 23.77 seconds respectively. Sophomore Cam Whalen was able to post a personal best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.26 seconds. Senior Tyrik Henry also ran a personal best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.36 seconds. Freshman Eddie Nicholas ran a personal best in the one mile run with a time of 4:25.76. Freshman Robert Moore was able to post a collegiate-best time of 4:28.51 in the one-mile run.

Other standout performances for the men included a tenth-place finish from Whalen in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.66 seconds and a twelfth-place finish from freshman Jovan Dixon in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.13 seconds.

It has been a successful regular season for the CCSU men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams. Coming into the season, the men were predicted to finish third in the NEC and the women were predicted to finish fourth by the Preseason Coaches’ Poll. After posting serval personal bests this past weekend the CCSU track and field teams will look to carry that momentum into the postseason starting next weekend.

Head coach Eric Blake said that the personal bests set this weekend helps in boosting the teams’ confidence going into the NEC Championships.

“Personal bests are a nice confidence boost, but it always comes down to the performances on NEC weekend,” Blake said.

Up next for the CCSU track and field teams are the 2020 Northeast Conference Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, New York on Feb. 21-22. Last season the Blue Devils placed second overall in both the men’s and women’s indoor track and field NEC Championships and will look to top that with a first-place finish this year.