GREENSBORO, N.C. – Brandon Fowler finished 27th in the 400-meter hurdles and Woodland’s 800-meter sprint medley relay placed 19th Saturday at the New Balance Nationals at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University in Greensboro, N.C.
Fowler, who placed second in New England in the 300-meter hurdles, completed the 400-meter circuit in 56.31 seconds, good for 27th out of 35 runners. His time was approximately 4.5 seconds off the winning pace of 51.85 seconds, but it was better than any other runner from the region.
Fowler only competes in the 400-meter hurdles a couple times a year, at out-of-state meets, because only the 300-meter version of the race is contested in Connecticut.
“I was disappointed,” Fowler said. “I wanted to run better because I have before and I expected the same. Besides having an extra 100 meters, there’s nothing really different for me because I’ve run it three other times this season.”
Woodland’s 800-meter sprint medley team, comprising Fowler, Chris Williams, Dan Park, and Tyler Murphy, finished 19th with a time of 1 minute, 37.83 seconds, 7 seconds off the best time of 1:30.76. Chris Savvidou was scheduled to run but was forced to scratch with a foot injury, changing the Hawks’ lineup before the race.
“It was unfortunate,” Fowler said of the late scratch. “We couldn’t run our original team that got us there.”
The four seniors that made the trip for Woodland all plan on competing with collegiate programs. Fowler is headed to the University of Connecticut; Savvidou is set to run at Central Connecticut State University; Park will compete at the United States Naval Academy; and Murphy is considering running cross-country at Quinnipiac University.
Murphy also won the state championship in the 2000-meter steeplechase June 16 at Willowbrook Park in New Britain. He finished the course in 6:40.12, more than two seconds faster than his closest competitor.
