the Informer

Senior Anderson Emerole (right) says that the team's goals were to "perform well and stay healthy" for the Hawks' busy February schedule. | Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com

The Hartford Hawks track and field team returned to the track to take part in the Joe Donahue Collegiate Indoor Games on Jan. 27, held in Boston, Massachusetts at the Reggie Lewis Center.

At the events end, the women’s team finished 12 out of 14 teams while the men settled in 15 place out of 16 participating teams.

Despite the low team finishes, the Hawk’s individual performances on both sides took top nods.

Freshman sprinter Tiffany Harrison continued her excellence for the Hawks in the 400 meters seeded first heat with a fourth place finish overall and a time of 59.16.

Priscilla Appiagyei raced alongside Harrison and clocked in at 1:00.20, finishing ninth and giving the Hawks two top 10 finishers of that race’s 39 runners.

Harrison and Appiagyei, Hartford’s indoor 400 meter record holder, have finished closely in each 400 that has been run in the first few meets of the season.

“We push each other, the completion we have. It’s hard to explain, really,” said Harrison. “Anyone will push you.”

The team was also able to pick up another top 10 finish in Sam Crisafulli’s time of 1:20.94 in the 500 meters.

“The sprinters are on the rise. As time goes, we get better and better,” said Harrison, who along with Crisafulli together make a solid freshman core.

Senior male sprinter Anderson Emerole and senior distance runner Andrew Chalmers continued to lead the Hawks on the men’s side.

Emerole scored a top 10 finish in the 500, coming in at 1:06.4., good for sixth out of the 25 runners, while Chalmers ran a 15:07 in the 5,000 meters, finishing in eighth place.

Emersole, Hartford’s indoor 400 meter record holder, with a time of 48.40, stated that he does not change his strategy when it comes to running the much more rare 500 meters, “I keep the same mentality for the 500 as I do for running the 400.”

In the jumps, Rashawn Providence finished ninth in the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump distance of 44’1”.

Hartford’s women picked up 10 points, beating out Wesleyan and Merrimack, while Hartford’s men totaled five points to land them ahead of Merrimack. Both Hawk teams will be back in action on Feb. 4. in Springfield, Mass, for the Springfield Invitational.

Emersole stated that the team’s goals were to, “perform well and stay healthy” for the Hawk’s February schedule that has five meets in the 29-day span, including the America East and New England Championships.