Only a select few of Central Connecticut State University men’s and women’s indoor track and field athletes competed in the Boston University Last Chance Qualifier on Saturday, February 28. Freshman Ashley Dana was the lone member of the women’s team to compete, while eight members of the men’s team competed.

Dana ran in the women’s 1,000-meter run at the BU Last Chance Qualifier. She was able to finish the race in fifth place out of the 11 competitors that competed in the event. She posted a time of 2:55.21 which was a collegiate-best for the freshman.

Of the eight men’s track and field athletes that competed three were able to put up personal bests. Senior Alex Norstrom and freshmen Elias Field and Eddie Nicholas all competed in the men’s 3,000-meter run on Saturday and all three posted personal bests in the event. Norstrom crossed the finish line in thirteenth place with a time of 8:25.82. Field clocked in at 8:33.19 to take eighteenth place followed by Nicholas in twenty-first place with a time of 8:38.09.

Senior Edwin Alston finished the men’s 60-meter dash preliminaries’ first heat with a time of 7.20 seconds which was good enough for eighth place in the preliminaries and qualified him for the men’s 60-meter dash finals. Alston went on the cross the finish line of the finals in eighth place at 7.14 seconds.

Other CCSU men’s track and field athletes that competed at the BU Last Chance Qualifier included senior Richard Grudzwick, junior Darius Wise and sophomores Jason Walton and Cam Whalen Grudzwick crossed the finish line of the men’s one mile run finals event in sixty-ninth place with a time of 4:25.06. Wise competed in the men’s 200-meter finals event and finished in thirtieth place with a time of 22.75 seconds. Walton took part in the men’s 400-meter finals event and came in nineteenth place with a time of 49.87 seconds. Whalen finished the men’s 60-meter hurdles preliminaries’ first heat in eleventh place with a time of 8.70. Whalen did not qualify for the 60-meter hurdles final event.

Both of Central’s men’s and women’s track and field teams took this past week to rest some athletes to prepare them for the upcoming IC4A/ECAC Championships, head coach Eric Blake said.

“We rested the majority of our team. Some rested to get ready for IC4A’s and ECAC’s, while others are getting ready for outdoors,” Blake said.

The members of the CCSU track and field teams that will be competing in the IC4A/ECAC Championships next weekend include four women’s athletes and at least eight men’s athletes, coach Blake said.

“We are still working on the exact number, but four women and about eight to ten men,” Blake said.

Up next for the Blue Devils’ men’s and women’s track and field teams is a return trip to the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, Massachusetts to compete in the IC4A/ECAC Championships on March 6-8. The NCAA Championships will be held the following weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 13-14 and will conclude the indoor track and field season.