Vercollone won the 1000-meter run on Saturday, leading four Skyhawks in the top ten, including a sweep of the top two spots. (PHOTO BY SportsPix) |
Vercollone leads 13 top five finishes with first place in 1000m
BOSTON, Mass. (December 3, 2016) – The Stonehill College men's track and field program opened its 2016-17 indoor season with 13 top five finishes at the 5th Annual UMass Boston Invitational, hosted by the University of Massachusetts Boston, at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center today.
Sophomore Stephen Vercollone (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke) led Stonehill's performances on Saturday and a sweep of the top two places, with a pack of three Skyhawks in the top five and four in the top ten of the 1000-meter run. He finished in 2:35.69, to edge out junior Jason Dimmick (Sutton, Massachusetts/Sutton), who finished second in 2:35.95, to lead the 21 entries in the event. Senior Steven Bomba (Putnam Valley, New York/Iona Prep) placed fourth in 2:38.50, while sophomore Connor Wolff (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody) was ninth in 2:43.88.
Dimmick was also part of Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay that turned in a second place finish in 3:26.05, among three teams that broke the previous meet record on Saturday. Running for the Skyhawks were senior All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) on the lead leg, followed by Dimmick, sophomore Daniel Madsen (West Haven, Connecticut/Notre Dame-West Haven) and junior Ruddy Severino (Methuen, Massachusetts/Methuen) on the anchor leg.
Severino placed third out of 53 entries in the 400-meter dash with his time of 51.87-seconds, while Baldasare finished seventh in 52.19. Madsen finished fifth out of 30 competitors in the 500-meter run with a time of 1:08.57.
Stonehill took three of the top four and placed four in the top ten of the one mile run, led by sophomore Matthew Shaw (Goffstown, New Hampshire/Goffstown) in second place out of 45 entries in 4:26.96. Sophomore David Lockhart (Stoughton, Massachusetts/Stoughton) finished third in 4:28.12, while classmate Christopher Drace (Franklin, New Jersey/Pope John XXIII) was fourth in 4:28.55. Freshman Jeremy Breen (Watertown, Massachusetts/Watertown) rounded out the top ten in 4:38.98.
Dimmick was second in the 1000m and was also part of the Skyhawks 4x400 relay that finished second. (PHOTO BY SportsPix) |
Junior Mark Hamalian (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham) placed third in the long jump with a distance of 20-feet, 9.25-inches. Juniors Joshua Hubbell (Gloucester, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) and Jonathan Naval (Stratford, Connecticut/Bunnell) placed seventh and eighth, respectively with distances of 20-feet, 0.50-inches and 19-10.25.
Naval was also fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 43-feet, 0.25-inches, while Hamalian and freshman Collin Kuchachik (Orange, Connecticut/Amity Regional) qualified for the 60-meter hurdles final with seventh and eighth place finishes in the preliminary heats. Hamalian finished seventh in the final in 9.03-seconds after qualifying seventh in 9.12, while Kuchachik placed eighth in 9.30-seconds after qualifying eighth in 9.25.
Junior Sam Bradford (Bedford, Massachusetts/Bedford) led four Stonehill runners, out of 26 entries, in the 5000-meter run with his time of 15:20.38 to place third, while senior Tyler Henseler (Coventry, Rhode Island/Bishop Hendricken) finished seventh in 15:25.62.
Sophomore Joe Connolly (Wilmington, Massachusetts/Austin Prep) finished fifth out of 104 participants in the 200-meter dash with his time of 22.97-seconds. He also placed 13th in the 60-meter dash prelims with a time of 7.26-seconds.
Other Results Include:
Junior Jordan Sullivan (Sound Beach, New York/Miller Place) placed sixth in the high jump with a height of 6-feet, 0.75-inches.
Sophomore Darren Shi (Yarmouth, Maine/Yarmouth) placed seventh out of 54 throwers in the shot put with a distance of 43-feet, 6.5-inches.
Junior Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) placed eighth in the weight throw with a distance of 47-feet, 1.5-inches.
Stonehill is now off until after the New Year when it competes at the Beantown Challenge, hosted by Harvard University, on Saturday, January 14, at 11 a.m.
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