NEW LONDON, CONN. 3/23/13 - Keene State College opened its outdoor track season by winning six events at the Conn. College Camel Caravan meet in New London, Conn. on Saturday.

Coming off his All-American performance in the 800 at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships, junior Ryan Widzgowski (Camden, Maine) won the 800-meter (1:58.88) and the 1,500 (4:01.91) races.

KSC also won a couple of field events.  Sophomore Ben Keach (Newfield, N.H.) won the shot-put (47'-8.50") and senior Glenn Guilmette (Kensington, N.H.) captured the javelin (203'-11"). Senior Dante Hill (Longmeadow, Mass.) took second in the shot-put (44'-02.00").

Freshman Taylor Starbird (Windsor Locks, Conn.) was third in the triple jump (38'-09.75") and freshman Robert Palazzo (Providence placed third in the hammer (135'-08.00").   In addition, junior Angus Fisher (Northampton, Mass.), Keach and freshman Fred Matthews (West Islip, N.Y.) finished third (133-10.00"), fourth (128'-04.00") and fifth (113'-05.00") respectively in the hammer.

On the track, freshman Eric Dietz (Prospect, Conn.) also placed second in the 200 (23.71).

The KSC men finished third in the five-team field with118 points. Westfield State won the team championship with 264 points.

For the Keene State women's team, sophomore Kaitlin Wheeler (Exeter, N.H.) raced to a first place finish in the 10K (40:41.21).  Sophomore teammate Hannah Doolittle (Hampstead, N.H.) was second (40:42.09) and sophomore Riley Wilk (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) was third (43:13.68).

Sophomore Nicole Marrero (Bristol, Conn.) won the javelin with a throw of 115'-09.00".  Freshman teammate Ashley Rozzi (Woodbury, Conn.) was second (105'-6.00").

Junior DiTonno (Wakefield, Mass.) and senior Whitney Cyr (Milford, Mass.) each finished second and third respectively in both the shot-put and hammer events.  In the shot, DiTonno had a throw of 34'-05.75" while Cyr had a mark of 34'-00.00".  In the hammer, DiTonno had a throw of 118'-03.00" and Cyr posted a mark of 118'-02.00".

On the track, junior Marie Whitney (Jaffrey, N.H.) was third in the 1,500 (5:11.68).

In team scoring, KSC was third in the five-team field with 118 points.  Westfield also claimed the women's title with 186 points.

Keene State will compete next Saturday at the Mount Holyoke Invitational.