Sophomore Anthony Innamorati placed fifth in the pole vault with a personal-best performance. (PHOTO BY SportsPix)

Innamorati and Griffin post fifth place finishes to lead Skyhawks

Stonehill collected 28.5 points for its seventh place team finish on Saturday, with host Rhode Island winning the event with 225.5 points. The Skyhawks were second among the non-Division I programs at the event behind just fellow Northeast-10 Conference member American International College (39 points).

Field events led the way for Stonehill on Saturday with sophomore Anthony Innamorati (Clinton, Massachusetts/Clinton) posting a fifth place finish in the pole vault when he cleared a personal-best height of 14-feet, 9-inches.

Junior Mason Griffin (Wellesley, Massachusetts/Wellesley) was also fifth in the shot put with a distance of 47-feet, 3.75-inches. He was also 16^th in the weight throw with a distance of 43-1.75. Sophomore Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) took tenth in the weight throw at 47-04.5.

Freshman Joe Connolly (Wilmington, Massachusetts/Austin Prep) finished seventh in the 60-meter dash in 7.27-seconds after qualifying eighth fastest in 7.14 – good for second in his qualifying heat. Connolly was also 17^th out of 36 entries in the 200-meter dash in 23.27. Sophomore Ruddy Severino (Methuen, Massachusetts/Methuen) was 22^nd in 23.57-seconds.

Senior Mason Griffin was fifth in the shot put. (PHOTO BY SportsPix)

Sophomore Jonathan Naval (Stratford, Connecticut/Bunnell) placed seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 44-feet, 6.75-inches. Freshman Riley Dowd (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody Veterans Memorial) finished seventh out of 17 entries in the one mile run with a time of 4:26.83.

Sophomore Mark Hamalian (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham) was seventh in the high jump with a height of 6-feet, 0.5-inch. He also placed ninth in the long jump with a distance of 20-feet, 10.75-inches.

Junior All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) took eighth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.75-seconds. Sophomore Jason Dimmick (Sutton, Massachusetts/Sutton) was eighth in a field of 29 runners in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.00, with freshman David Lockhart (Stoughton, Massachusetts/Stoughton) finishing 12^th in 1:59.00 and classmate Christopher Drace (Franklin, New Jersey/Pope John XXIII) taking 16^th in 1:59.85.

Freshman Stephen Vercollone (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke) placed eighth out of 27 competitors in the 500-meter run in 1:06.84, while junior Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Massachusetts/Hingham) finished 13^th in 1:07.68.

Freshman John Onken (Holbrook, New York/Sachem North) led three Stonehill runners in the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:56.48 for 11^th place, while junior Antonio Xelhua (Arlington, Massachusetts/Arlington) was 12^th in 9:00.65 and classmate Daniel Nolan (Chelmsford, Massachusetts/Chelmsford) was 13^th in 9:02.87.

Stonehill returns to action next Saturday when it competes at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, hosted by Boston University, at 10 a.m. The Skyhawks will open their indoor championship schedule the following weekend at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center.

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