PUTNAM — Oct. 15 has always been an important day for the Putnam Science Academy Men’s Basketball Program as it is the first day of practice. With the first day of practice also comes the annual “Mustang Mile” before practice. This year was the 5th annual mile where the Mustang athletes go down to the Putnam track and have to run a mile in a certain amount of time. 

For anyone under 6-feet, 6-inch the time to beat is 6 minutes and 30 seconds while athletes who are 6-feet, 7-inch or taller have a longer amount of time at 7 minutes. This has been an extremely successful event said Head Coach Tom Espinosa. 

“It is a great way to kick off the season,” said Espinosa. “It is a great team bonding experience that brings the program together before starting up the official season.”

This year’s winner of the mile was Caleb Nero, a postgraduate guard hailing from Oklahoma. Nero was able to complete the mile in 5:35.The second and third place finishers were right behind Nero as sophomore Alpha Diallo from Queens, N.Y., finished in 5:37 and Jaiden Rivera from California finished in third with a time of 5:48.

No one was able to come close to the record holder Aaron Robinson, a current junior at Quinnipiac University. Robinson was able to complete the mile in 5:19.

After the mile both the prep and varsity teams held their first practices. Both Mustang teams will be looking to build off of last year’s success.