Golden Bears Excite During First Division III New England Championships in Program History

NEW LONDON, Conn. (May 2-3, 2025) – The Golden Bears competed in the Division III New England Championships on Friday and Saturday. The Golden Bears sent four student-athletes for individual events and also had two relay teams qualify for the championship meet throughout the year. Day one saw two student-athletes compete in individual events, and day two saw two more student-athletes compete in individual events, and two relays competed in team events.

Place:

Women's Team: No Team Score

Men's Team: 33rd/33 Scoring Teams

How it Happened:

Kayla Kyles started day one for the Golden Bears as Kyles and Matt Provost both competed. Kyles competed in the Long Jump event and would jump a long jump of 5.02m to finish the season 20th in the region in that event. Provost ran the 10,000m race a little while after Kyles competed and ran a time of 34:26.88 to finish 25th in the region in the event. Day two saw the women's 4x100m relay team comprised of Imani Brown-Taylor, Fallon Lynch, Gabrielle Minuti, and Kayla Kyles run a season-best time of 51.29, placing them 18th in the region for that event. The field saw Ike Ogbbonnanaze throw in two events. Ogbonnanze threw in the Discus event and threw a longest throw of 44.38m, which placed Ogbonnanze seventh in the region for the Discus event and earned WNE their first-ever points in the Division III New England Championship meet. Ogbonnanze also threw in the shot put event and threw a furthest throw of 13.89m, placing Ogbonnanze 12th in the region for shot put. While that event was going on, Nolan Palmer ran the 400m hurdles event. Palmer ran a time of 57.41, placing 23rd in the region in the event. The final race for the Golden Bears was the men's 4x400m relay race. The relay team of Nolan Palmer, Nicholas Smith, Jersyon Harrison-Durley, and Jordie Morgan ran a season-best time of 3:27.20 and placed 14th in the region for the event. That race concluded the meet and season for the Golden Bears.