SPRINGFIELD, Mass., February 11, 2006 – Springfield College sophomore Nick DeCelle (Mechanicville, N.Y.) had an outstanding day in the jumping events at the MIT Co-Ed Indoor Track and Field Invitational in Cambridge, Mass., where he finished first in both the long jump and triple jump, with leaps of 20’7 ¾” and 45’3 ½”, respectively.
The Pride men split their squad and competed at the Boston University Valentine’s Day Meet and the MIT Co-Ed Invitational. Both of these events were non-scoring meets.
Following Decelle’s performance at MIT, sophomore Joe Norton (Framingham, Mass.) finished second in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:55.64. The men’s distance medley relay team also took first place.
Over at Boston University, Pride junior Alex Kampersal (Natick, Mass.) continued his strong season. Kampersal’s 51’¼” toss in the shot put landed him an eighth-place finish. Also performing well in the throwing events was sophomore Dominic Uguccioni (Colrain, Mass.). Uguccioni finished in 25th place in the shot put with a heave of 44’9”, and finished in 21st place in the weight throw with a toss of 47’9 ¾”.
In the running events at BU, freshman Mike Griffin (Scarborough, Maine) took 26th place in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:31.78. In the 800-meter run, fellow freshman Eric Nacsin (East Longmeadow, Mass.) finished in 59th place out of 148 runners with a time of 1:57.16. Seniors Bill King (Wilmington, Mass.) and Chris Keyser (West Newbury, Mass.) placed 59th (23.02 seconds) and 66th (23.12 seconds) out of 122 runners. In the 3,000-meter run, junior Tetsuji Kambera (Osaka, Japan) ran to a 49th-place finish out of 114 runners with a time of 8:49.49.
The Pride will next compete at the New England Division III Championships at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., on Friday, February 17, and Saturday, February 18.
Ken Klatka, just inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame in October, 2011, enters his 37th season as head coach of the men’s track and field program in 2012-2013. He ranks among the nation’s most successful coaches, with an overall record of 442 wins, 144 losses, and two ties for an impressive .753 winning percentage. Under his direction, Kevin Coyle '12 won the 2011 Division III Indoor Long Jump National Championship.
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