West Hartford Resident Named Track Athlete Of The Year

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford’s Grant O'Connor, a Hall High graduate and currently a senior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently named the Male Track Athlete of the Year in the Atlantic Region for the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field season. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association recently announced the Regional Athletes of the Year and All-Region honorees. O’Connor also collected All-Region honors in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

O'Connor is ranked second nationally in the 10000 at 29:41.45 (Bucknell University Bison Invitational) and third nationally in the 5,000 at 14:09.85 (Penn Relays) - a personal record. He was the top NCAA Division III finisher in the 10,000 at Bucknell as well as in the 5,000 at the prestigious Penn Relays. The electrical engineering major also ran the 5,000 meters at the Liberty League Championship (14:57.69) and the 1500 at MIT (3:56.40).

O'Connor was also the Regional Athlete of the Year during the indoor season when he entered the NCAA Championship ranked among the leaders in Division III in the 3000 meters and 5000 meters.

He began the season with a mile time of 4:18.55 and a week later he ran the 3,000 meters in 8:24.39. In the only 5,000 meter race in which he participated he crossed the finish line in 14:17.84, the third fastest time in Division III to that point, and concluded the regular season with personal-record times of 4:17.94 in the mile and 8:16.50 (converted from meet record time of 8:22.27) - which ranked fourth in Division III in 2019 - in the 3000 meters at the Liberty League Championship Meet.

O'Connor ran the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship in Boston, where he finished third with a time of 14:29.05. He is also a three-time All-America in cross country.

O’Connor was also named the Liberty League Track Performer of the Week on Wednesday after he earned two All-America honors at the 2019 NCAA Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships with finishes of third and fourth place. He was fourth in the 10,000 meters with a time of 30:25.84, including 1:07.21 on his final lap.

After leading for nearly half the race, he traded the top spot with eventual winner Dhruvil Patel of North Central (30:14.05). Two days later in the 5,000 meters, the final race of O'Connor's career, he was third with a time of 14:44.46. He was less than four seconds from Patel in first (14:40.86) and just over a second behind the runner-up (14:43.41).

O'Connor ran a 73.96-second third lap before posting at-or-under 71 seconds the rest of the way, concluding with a 65.69-second final 400. A nine-time All-America in his collegiate career, O'Connor was previously recognized as the Track Performer of the Week in April.