MANSFIELD, Conn. (April 17, 2026) – The track and field programs were at Eastern Connecticut State University for their final regular-season invitational on Friday. They closed the regular season out in style with Jack Straut putting up an impressive day in the hurdle events, and the women's 4x400m team of Imani Brown-Taylor, Mia Dodge, Kayla Kyles, and Taylor Labadorf earning a spot on the top of the podium by winning their event.
Results:
Women's Team – 4th/8
Men's Team – 3rd/8
How it Happened:
Track Results:
The track events started with the women's and men's 4x100m relays. Two events that saw the Golden Bears place in the top five. The women's relay team of Mia Dodge, Imani Brown-Taylor, Gabrielle Minuti, and Kayla Kyles placed third, with a time of 51.39. The men's team, consisting of Jason Pratt, Aiden Cooney, Jack Straut, and Jack Levesque, placed fifth, with a time of 43.77. The men's 1,500m event saw two Golden Bears place in the top six. Joshua Farrell earned fourth with a 4:13.97, and Lucas Franco placed sixth with a time of 4:16.14. Both earned best times based on their seed times in the event. Jack Straut followed with a fifth-place finish in the men's 110m hurdles. He earned a best time of 15.98 based on his seed time. The next top-six finisher was Alex Maurer, who placed second in the men's 100m dash, with a time of 11.07. Then, WNE's Nick Smith earned a blistering time of 2:01.21, which placed him fifth in the men's 800m event. Mia Dodge would earn a podium place in the women's 400m hurdles. Dodge was timed at 1:13.33, a new best time based on the seeded time. Nolan Palmer and Jack Straut excelled in the men's 400m hurdles. Palmer earned third and beat his seed time with a time of 55.63. Jack Straut placed sixth with a time of 59.37. The women's 200m dash saw a Golden Bear place fourth. It was Taylor Labadorf who beat her seed time by almost a full second with a time of 26.79. The distance runners then had their time to shine in the 5,000m event. Olivia Kay and Caitlin Reilly placed second and third in the women's 5,000m. Both beat their seed times, with Kay earning second with a time of 19:58.51. Reilly placed third with a time of 20:36.05. WNE's men's 4x400m relay teams both placed in the top four teams. Jordan Billings, Aiden Cooney, Jack Straut, and Evan Stewart earned a time of 3:32.25 to place second in the event. The other team of Jack Levesque, Matt Lowe, Owen McCarthy, and Gabriel LaPerriere earned fourth with a time of 3:46.38. The Golden Bears saved the best for last as the women's 4x400m team, consisting of Imani Brown-Taylor, Mia Dodge, Kayla Kyles, and Taylor Labadorf, won their event with a time of 4:18.40 to close out the meet.
Field Results:
The field events started with Jocelynn Munoz and Hannah Baxter placing in the top six in the women's shot put event. Munoz grabbed fifth place, with a final mark of 10.03m. Baxter earned sixth place with a personal-best mark of 10.02m. Tanner Crane then placed fifth in the men's high jump event with a season-best mark of 1.80m and also fifth in the men's long jump event, with a top mark of 6.33m. Gabrielle Minuti earned a fourth-place finish in the women's pole vault, thanks to a season-best 2.65m mark. Owen Hawes would tie for second in the men's pole vault event. He earned a season-best mark of 3.85m based on his seeded mark. Johan Moulema was the next Golden Bear to make a statement on the meet, placing fifth in the men's triple jump, with a mark of 12.35m. The men's and women's discus events and the men's javelin throw are all unscored based on the results page and will be updated if the results are posted.
Up Next on the Schedule:
The Golden Bears will turn their focus to the Conference of New England Championships, which will take place in Wenham, Massachusetts, at Gordon College on April 24th and April 25th.