Stonehill Places Second at Tufts Invitational


Senior All-American Daniel Zawalich won the one mile run to help lead the Skyhawks at Tufts today. (PHOTO BY SportsPix)

Skyhawks post two event wins, seven top two finishes 

MEDFORD, Mass. (January 17, 2015) – The Stonehill College men's track and field team turned in a second place team finish as a result of two event wins and seven top two finishes while opening its second semester schedule at the Tufts University Invitational at Gantcher Athletic Center today.

Stonehill compiled 145 points at the meet to trail just former Northeast-10 Conference rivals University of Massachusetts Lowell, which won the team title with 160 points. Host Tufts was third with 92 points, followed by Keene State College (54 points) and Worcester State University (45).

Senior All-American Daniel Zawalich (Paxton, Massachusetts/St. John's of Shrewsbury) won the one mile run for Stonehill in 4:18.69, pacing the field by nearly eight full seconds. Freshman James Murphy (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) placed 11th in 4:32.15.

Zawalich also ran a leg for Stonehill's 4x800-meter relay team that finished second to UMass Lowell (8:05.76) with a time of 8:07.12. Senior All-American Nicholas Kirkpatrick (Carmel, Indiana/Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) ran the lead leg, followed by Zawalich, sophomore Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Massachusetts/Hingham) and then senior All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, New York/Archbishop Molloy) on the anchor leg.  

Burleigh also finished second in the 800-meter run by just 0.30-seconds with his time of 2:00.46. Kirkpatrick took second place in the 1000-meter run by just a quarter second with a time of 2:30.49, while Cooney finished fifth out of 40 runners in the 1000 in 2:33.72.

Sophomore Joe Santo (Newburyport, Massachusetts/Newburyport) won the 5000-meter run in 15:25.27 to lead three Stonehill runners in the top five. Senior Seamus McEvoy (Longmeadow, Massachusetts/Longmeadow) finished third in 15:50.25, while sophomore Adam Rego (Rumford, Rhode Island/LaSalle Academy) placed fifth in 15:54.37.


Sophomore Joe Santo (right) won the 5000-meter run on Saturday. (PHOTO BY SportsPix)

Junior Morgan Johnson (West Newbury, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) placed second in the weight throw with a distance of 52-feet, 4-inches, while freshman Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) was third with a throw of 49-04.5. Senior Daniel Cormier (Methuen, Massachusetts/Methuen) finished fourth at 48-07.

Junior Mason Griffin (Wellesley, Massachusetts/Wellesley) placed fourth in the shot put with a school-record distance of 47-feet, 9.25-inches, while Cormier was sixth with a throw of 45-03.3.

Freshman Jason Dimmick (Sutton, Massachusetts/Sutton) took second place in the field of 50 runners in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:24.15.

Senior Teague Grubel (Phoenix, Arizona/Shadow Mountain) finished third in the 200-meter dash in 23.10-seconds to lead three Stonehill runners in the top ten in the field of 69 sprinters. Sophomore All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) placed sixth in 23.20-seconds, while freshman Joshua Hubbell (Gloucester, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) was tenth in 23.56.

Grubel also finished fifth in the 60-meter dash in 7.12-seconds after qualifying seventh in 7.21-seconds. 

More Stonehill performances: 


Junior Mason Griffin set a school record in the shot put for the Skyhawks. (PHOTO BY SportsPix)

Freshmen Dillon McGee (Westford, Massachusetts/Westford Academy) and Sam Bradford (Bedford, Massachusetts/Bedford) ran third and fourth, respectively, in the 3000-meter run. McGee took third in 8:50.29, while Bradford was right behind him in 8:55.16. Sophomore Antonio Xelhua (Arlington, Massachusetts/Arlington) placed 13th in the field of 36 runners in 9:14.74. 

Freshman Jonathan Naval (Stratford, Connecticut/Bunnell) placed third in the triple jump with a distance of 43-feet. He also finished 12th in the long jump with a leap of 19-01.

Freshman Dillon Neumann (Harwinton, Connecticut/Lewis Mills) finished eighth in the 60-meter high hurdles with a time of 9.20-seconds in the final after qualifying eighth in 9.22-seconds. Classmate Mark Hamalian (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham) just missed qualifying for the final with his time of 9.23-seconds in the prelims to finish ninth overall. 

Neumann also placed sixth in the pole vault by clearing a height of 13-feet, 7.33-inches, while Hamalian finished 11th in the high jump by clearing a height of 6-feet. Hamalian also placed fifth in the long jump with a distance of 20-feet, 4-inches, while Hubbell was sixth at 20-02. Freshman Jason Lambrou (Cumberland, Rhode Island/Cumberland) placed ninth with a distance of 19-07.5.

Stonehill is back in action next weekend when it competes at the University of Rhode Island Sorlien Invitational at Mackal Fieldhouse in Kingston, Rhode Island, at 11 a.m.

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