West Hartford’s O’Connor Receives Liberty League Honor

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford’s Grant O'Connor, a junior on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s (RPI) track and field team, has been named the Liberty League’s Men's Track Performer of the Week. A junior distance runner, O'Connor garnered Track Performer of the Week for the second time in the past two weeks.

The most recent honor came after O'Connor (a Hall graduate) registered the second fastest 5000 meter times in school history, finishing ninth overall and first among those from Division III schools with a time of 14:10.60 at The Penn Relays. He was within a second of eighth place and less than a minute from victory. Kieran Tuntivate, who ran unattached, won the 102-person 5000 meters event in a time of 13:58.77.

O'Connor briefly led the NCAA in the 5K - just 11 days after establishing the season standard in the 10K. He is now second. In three outdoor meets this season, the electrical engineering major has run the 1,500 meters, 5,000 and 10,000. He was second in the 1,500 at Tufts in early April with a time of 4:01.59.

O'Connor won the 10000 meters at the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic with a lifetime personal-best of 29:19.52. It was the eighth-fastest recorded time in Division III history and it remains the top in the nation currently. O'Connor defeated 46 other competitors, including the runner-up, who was three seconds behind, while the third place finisher was 23 seconds behind.

An NCAA All-America in the 10,000 meters as well as in cross country, O'Connor and his teammates compete in the Liberty League Championship at RIT this weekend. The Engineers are the defending champions.

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Photo and article via RPI Athletics