Senior Robert Massey provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship and earned All-New England honors in the 3000m. (PHOTO BY Mark Connolly) |
Massey provisionally qualifies for NCAA Championships with school-record 3000m
BOSTON, Mass. (February 27, 2016) – The College men's track and field program wrapped up the 2016 New England Indoor Track & Field Championships with five All-New England awards after adding three more performances on Saturday at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center.
Senior Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Massachusetts/Chelmsford) led the way for Stonehill on Saturday by collecting his second All-New England honor of the weekend with a third place finish in the 3000-meter run. He smashed the program record by nearly seven seconds as he posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8:17.99, surpassing the previous program mark of 8:24.63 by Dave Metzger at the 2008 New England Championships. The time is presently ranked 25th nationally in Division II. Freshman Lawrence Carney (Lowell, Massachusetts/Lowell) placed 22nd in the field in 8:42.49.
Stonehill's 4x800-meter relay team also posted an All-New England performance on Saturday, finishing fourth in 7:40.50 – good for first among non-Division I relays in the event. Sophomore Jason Dimmick (Sutton, Massachusetts/Sutton) ran the lead leg in 1:54.5, followed by freshman Stephen Vercollone (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke) with a 1:54.4 split, with classmate David Lockhart (Stoughton, Massachusetts/Stoughton) running the third leg in 1:55.4 before junior Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Massachusetts/Hingham) completed the anchor leg in 1:55.4. The Skyhawks were just 1.07-seconds off the winning pace of 7:39.43 by the University of Vermont.
Junior Duncan Burleigh earned All-New England honors as part of the Skyhawks 4x800 and DMR. (PHOTO BY SportsPix) |
Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay of freshman Daniel Madsen (West Haven, Connecticut/Notre Dame-West Haven), sophomores Patrick Ahern (Charlotte, North Carolina/Providence Day School) and Joshua Hubbell (Gloucester, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) and junior All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) completed the event in 3:21.24 to place 15th.
Senior Mason Griffin (Wellesley, Massachusetts/Wellesley) placed 16th in the shot put with a distance of 47-feet, 5-inches.
Stonehill finished the weekend with All-New England performances in five total events. In addition to Saturday's three honors. Massey, Baldasare, Burleigh and Lockhart were all part of the 4000-meter distance medley relay that earned All-New England honors and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas, in two weeks with a time of 9:56.71 for a seventh place finish. They currently rank 17th nationally in the event, however they rank 13th in the country if you remove the programs with duplicate entries above them. Lockhart ran the opening 1200-meter leg in 3:03.9, before Baldasare completed the 400-meter leg in 49.1-seconds, Burleigh ran the 800-meter leg in 1:54.8 and then Massey completed the mile anchor leg in 4:08.7.
Junior Joe Santo (Newburyport, Massachusetts/Newburyport) also earned All-New England honors for the first time in his career on Friday night with a sixth place finish in the 5000-meter run with a personal-best time of 14:51.82.
Stonehill finished 16th in the team standings this weekend with 16 points, good for fourth among the Division II programs competing. The University of Rhode Island claimed the team title with 126 points, while Northeastern University finished second with 101 points.
Stonehill will now await the official entries for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship entries to be announced early this week. The NCAA Championships, hosted by Pittsburg State University in Kansas, are March 11-12.
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