Stonehill Wins Sixth-Straight Skyhawk Invitational


Junior Daniel Cormier broke the oldest standing men's school record with his record effort on the shot put today.

Cormier and Griffin surpass 15-year old shot put mark, while Fontanella tops facility record for 3000-meters in winning effort 

EASTON, Mass. (April 25, 2014) – Stonehill College, ranked second in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Men's Division II East Regional rankings index, won its home Skyhawk Invitational for the sixth straight year at W.B. Mason Stadium this evening.

Stonehill compiled 157 points to finish 29.50 points ahead of second place Boston University (127.50 points) in the team standings, winning the seven year old event for the sixth straight year. Bryant University finished third with 113.50 points, while Harvard University was fourth (99 points) and Boston College fifth (73).

Senior Trent Fontanella (Pelham, N.H./Bishop Guertin) led an army of Stonehill runners in the 3000-meter run with a first place finish in a W.B. Mason Stadium record time of 8:34.04. He surpassed the previous facility mark of 8:39.09 set by Colton Ham of Franklin Pierce University at last year's Skyhawk Invitational. Senior Nate Webber (Atkinson, N.H./Central Catholic) finished third in 8:42.84, while freshman Joe Santo (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) placed fourth in 8:46.14 and sophomore Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) rounded out the top five in 8:47.03. Freshman Tyler Henseler (Coventry, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) took sixth in 8:47.86, while senior Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) capped the lead pack in 8:50.01 for seventh place as Stonehill placed eight in the top ten and had ten of the 13 runners in the event.

Junior All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:52.78 – a quarter of a second off the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Championships. Freshman Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) took fifth in the field of 21 with a time of 1:55.85, while classmate Steven Bomba (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Iona Prep) placed 12th in 1:59.13.


Senior Trent Fontanella won the 3000-meter run and set a facility record in the process. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Senior Xavier Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) won the 110-meter high hurdles by nearly two full seconds with his time of 14.69-seconds. Senior Tyler Moules (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) completed a Stonehill sweep of the men's hurdles events with a winning time of 57.26-seconds in the 400-meter hurdles.

Freshman All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) won the 400-meter dash in 49.18-seconds. Junior Robert Smith (Woburn, Mass./Woburn) finished sixth in 50.53-seconds.

Baldasare and Smith were also part of Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay team that finished second in a photo finish to American International as the Yellow Jackets anchor runner made up a 10-yard gap on the front stretch. The Yellow Jackets won in 3:20.92 – just 0.03-seconds ahead of Stonehill's 3:20.95. Baldasare ran the lead leg in 51.3-seconds, followed by Cooney who ran the second leg in 50.3-seconds and junior Teague Grubel (Phoenix, Ariz./Shadow Mountain) completed the third leg in 50-seconds before Smith ran the anchor leg in 49.2-seconds.

Grubel placed fourth out of 30 entries in the 100-meter dash in 11.18-seconds. Dixon finished seventh in 11.33-seconds, while classmate Michael Harris (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) was 11th in 11.48. Grubel was also sixth out of 31 sprinters in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.57-seconds, while Harris took 13th in 23.27-seconds.

Junior Daniel Cormier (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) and sophomore Mason Griffin (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) both surpassed the 15-year old shot put school record and finished third and fourth respectively in today's event. Cormier placed third with a distance of 49-feet, 9-inches, while Griffin had a toss of 49-07.75 to place fourth as both surpassed the previous school mark of 48-08.75 by Monos Gregoriades at UMass Dartmouth in April, 1989. It was the longest-standing men's school record on either the indoor or outdoor books before today.


Junior All-American Patrick Cooney nearly PQd for the NCAAs with his winning time in the 800-meters and was also part of a strong 4x400 relay. (PHOTO BY Bob Blanchard)

Sophomore Andrew Hastings (Broad Brook, Conn./Hebron Academy) finished sixth in the shot put with a distance of 45-00.50. He also finished sixth in the discus throw with a distance of 128-feet, 6-inches, while classmate Morgan Johnson (West Newbury, Mass./St. John's Prep) finished seventh with a throw of 122-06.

Cormier also placed third in the hammer throw with a distance of 146-feet, 11-inches. Griffin took sixth with a heave of 125-05.

Stonehill finished first in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 8:06.76, which was a head to head race with Assumption College. 

Other Stonehill highlights include: 

Junior All-American Nick Staley (Medway, Mass./BC High) placed second in the high jump with a height of 6-feet, 4.75-seconds. Senior Alex Willgoos (Newington, Conn./Newington) finished fifth with a leap of 6-00.75. 

Willgoos was also tenth in the long jump with a distance of 19-feet, 0.75-inches. 

Junior All-American Daniel Zawalich (Paxton, Mass./St. John's of Shrewsbury) finished fourth out of 31 entries in the 1500-meter run with his time of 3:53.84 – less than a second of the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Senior All-American Justin Blaszczyk (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown) placed 11th in 4:00.84. 

Senior Taylor Viotto (Washington, N.J./Warren Hills) placed fourth in the javelin throw with a distance of 186-feet, 7-inches. 

Stonehill is right back in action here at W.B. Mason Stadium next weekend when the College hosts the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Track & Field Championships for the second time on Friday and Saturday, May 2-3.

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