The University of Rhode Island track and field team emerged victorious in the first-ever Ocean State Cup as the men’s team contributed 175 points to the combined win in Smithfield on Friday behind multiple broken records.

Over the course of the past few years, Bryant University track and field Head Coach Mitchell Switzer has pushed for the creation of this event, a meet specifically for the four Division I schools in Rhode Island as well as the Division III schools, Rhode Island College and Roger Williams University.

While Switzer would get his wish, his team would come up short, as Rhode Island’s 406 points between the men’s and women’s teams just beat out the 399.5 from Bryant. Outside of the Bulldogs and Rams, no other school scored more than 220, the point total of third-place finisher Brown University.

Rhode Island managed to separate itself from every non-Bulldog team through the record-breaking performances from the likes of second-year Nick Martin and second-year Alex Arbogast. Martin broke the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:01.18, smashing the previous record of 9:10.38.

“[Breaking the record] was almost predetermined; he’s been in really good shape and had a really good indoor season,” Rhode Island Head Coach Trent Baltzell said. “He was all alone the whole time… I think next time he races the steeple, he’s going to obliterate it. As a distance runner, you want to have people around you to push you along and give you added motivation. For him to do that all by himself is super impressive.”

For Arbogast, his time of 10.54 seconds in the 100-meter was a new personal record and spearheaded Rhode Island’s sweep of the podium. Fifth-year LJ Raye and first-year Jacob Volkerts placed second and third, respectively.

“Coming off the indoor season, we were confident that we had some of the best sprinters in the conference, and we’d be able to score a lot of points in those events,” Baltzell said. “There is a lot more to come from that group.”

That group of sprinters is heading down to Tampa, Florida on Friday with the goal of qualifying for the NCAA Championship. However, they weren’t the only group to sweep for Rhode Island, as the Rams dominated the discus behind a 47.43-meter toss from second-year CJ McDermott. First-year Alex Fitzsimmons and first-year Gabe Rodrigues finished second and third with tosses of 46.06 meters and 45.71 meters, respectively. All three discus throwers set new personal records.

“We knew we had some good discus throwers, but it’s always hard to say how they’re going to transition from high school to college,” Baltzell said. “They’ve been working really hard in this crappy weather on a day-to-day basis. I think once the weather warms up, we’ll see them throw quite a bit further.”

In total, the men’s team won six events and sent 20 athletes to the podium. Some of their other winners included first-year Douglas Ledger, who tossed the javelin 59.42 meters, his first marked toss of his career. Ledger wasn’t the only first-year javelin thrower to score for the Rams, as Russell Perryman placed third with his toss of 55.61 meters.

“It’s tough to be a collegiate javelin thrower because you really don’t have much of an indoor season to speak of,” Baltzell said. “They’ve been working really hard in the weight room, becoming better athletes… They’ve both had great PRs and have a lot of room to grow as well.”

First-year Cam Miller won the high jump, clearing 1.99 meters. It was Miller’s first outdoor competition of his collegiate career. The last individual winner for the Rams was second-year Theo Puterbaugh in the shot put. Puterbaugh’s toss of 16.57 meters was 0.88 meters better than second place; that gap was larger than the gap between second and fourth place. Rhode Island held both of those spots, with first-year Winslow Sightler placing second and McDermott placing fourth.

Rhode Island will be back in action on Friday, splitting its team up and sending some sprinters down to Florida, while the rest will participate in the Friar Invitational in Providence.

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