Stonehill Finishes Seventh at NE Championships


Freshman Corey Thomas captured the New England Championship in the high jump with a new Division II season-best and school-record leap of 7'2.25". He also earned All-New England honors with his second-place finish in the 55M hurdles.

Stonehill Finishes Seventh at NE Championships

Thomas leads four All-New England performances for Skyhawks by winning high jump championship, placing second in 55M hurdles
Fullerton places second in mile, Lul eighth in 400M & D'Agostino 8th in high jump

Complete Results 

BOSTON, Mass. (February 27, 2010) - The Stonehill College men's indoor track and field team, ranked 25th in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II poll and fourth in the East Region, turned in a seventh-place finish out of 65 programs from NCAA Divisions I, II and III at the New England Championships, hosted by Boston University, on Friday and Saturday.

Stonehill compiled 27.50 points over the two days to place third among Division II programs at the event. The University of Connecticut won the team title with 140 points, followed by the University of Rhode Island with 69 points. Northeast-10 champions Southern Connecticut State University led the Division II contingent with 58 points to take fourth overall, followed by American International College (47pts) and Stonehill.

Freshman Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High), the Northeast-10 Conference Male Athlete of the Year, led five All-New England performances for Stonehill, by taking home two of those honors. He captured the New England Championship in the high jump by setting a new school-record and Division II season-best, while placing second in the 55-meter high hurdles in a photo-finish and yet another school-record.


Junior Patrick Fullerton earned All-New England honors in the mile with his second-place finish.

Thomas regained the top height in all of Division II this season after losing the honor at the Northeast-10 Championships last week by posting a height of 7'2.25" - two-inches higher than American International freshman Noel James in second. James had edged out Thomas at the NE-10 championships last season with a then DII-best leap of 7'1.5". Thomas bettered his NCAA Championship automatic qualifying height and broke his own school-record of 7'1" set at the Reebok Boston Collegiate Indoor Games on January 29.

Thomas also earned All-New England honors with his second-place finish in the 55-meter high hurdles. He bettered his NCAA Division II provisional qualifying and school-record with a time of 7.45-seconds - just .04 behind winner Tyler Cotto from the University of Massachusetts. He broke the school-record for the sixth time this season, eclipsing his time of 7.51-seconds in winning the NE-10 Championship last week. Thomas qualified for the final with a time of 7.63-seconds to place fourth in the semifinals after placing third in 7.57 in Friday's preliminary round.

Stonehill senior Joseph D'Agostino (Canton, Mass./Canton) also earned All-New England honors in the high jump with a leap of 6'6.25" to place eighth overall.

Sophomore Pak Lul (Portland, Maine/North Yarmouth Academy) earned All-New England honors in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.37-seconds to place eighth in the final. He qualified by breaking his own school-record with a time of 48.95-seconds to finish ninth out of 31 competitors in Friday's preliminary round, surpassing his previous best of 49.29-seconds here at the BU Valentine's Invitational on February 13.

Junior Patrick Fullerton (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill) rounded out the All-New England performances for the Stonehill men by taking second in the mile-run with a time of 4:09.19, improving on his previous provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Championships in two weeks. Craig McPherson of Boston University edged Fullerton for the New England title in 4:08.57.


Sophomore Pak Lul broke his own school-record in the 400M and earned All-New England honors.

Other results for Stonehill included:

Junior Daniel Fidler (Carlisle, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) placed 19th out of 32 competitors in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:16.60. Sophomore Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) finished 23rd in the event in 15:31.85.

Stonehill finished 19th in the 4000-meter distance medley relay with a time of 10:38.29. Running for the Skyhawks were Lul, junior Brian Benson (Loudonville, N.Y./Shaker) and freshmen Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep) and Sam Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk).

Benson and Spencer were also part of Stonehill's 4x800-meter relay team which placed 21st with a time of 8:01.79. Joining the pair were juniors Nicholas Campbell (Mansfield, Mass./Bishop Feehan) and Nathan Morse (Whitinsville, Mass./Holy Name).

Hanlon placed 14th out of 32 competitors in Friday's 800-meter run with a time of 1:55.43.

Morse finished 21st out of 30 competitors in Friday's 500-meter run with a time of1:06.49.

Next up for those who have qualified will be the 2010 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday and Saturday, March 12 & 13.