WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior Brenden LaForest (Westfield, Mass.) began his 2022-23 indoor track and field season with a first-place finish in the 300-meter dash as the Owls competed at the Utica Holiday Classic from Utica, New York on Saturday.

LaForest sprinted across the finish line at a time of 36.79 seconds, which was over a second faster than the next closest competitor.

After setting his personal-best record in the 3000 last week, sophomore Brandon Hager (Agawam, Mass.) reset that record with a time of 9:33.52 to record a second-place mark in the event. He improved his PR time by 12 seconds in the span of a week.

The quartet of John Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.), Gordon Johnson (Hanson, Mass.), Colin Mahoney (Plainville, Mass.) and Rowan Gottshall (West Simsbury, Mass.) all tallied indoor-best marks in the 800. The foursome returned to win their heat in the 4x400 meter relay, finishing fourth overall.

The Owls finished seventh out of ten teams, totaling 33 points on the day. Cortland came out victorious in the meet.

Westfield will not return to the oval arena until after the New Year as the Owls will travel back to Springfield College for the Massasoit Classic from Springfield, Mass. on Saturday, January 21.