The 4000-meter distance medley relay team bypassed the NCAA provisional qualifying time
Northeast 10 Indoor Track and Field Report: Week 8
McNamee, Vercollone, Connolly, and Taxter broke the school record on Sunday and are seeded fourth on the NCAA Division II provisional list |
EASTON, Mass. (February 27, 2019) – The Stonehill College's men's track and field 4000-meter distance medley relay team was named Northeast-10 Conference Relay Team of the Week after breaking the school record and improving to No. 4 on the NCAA Division II performance list this Sunday.
The quartet included seniors Lucas Taxter, Stephen Vercollone, and Joe Connolly and freshman Nickolas McNamee finished first of three teams at the BU Last Chance Invitational, hosted by Boston University on Sunday. The newly configured distance medley relay team posted a school record time of 9:47.24 to move up from 19th on the NCAA Division II performance list all the way up to No. 4. This time is 0.04 shy of the automatic qualifying standard.
The relay team broke the previous school record of 9:49.12 set by Taxter, Vercollone, Joshua Hubbell '18, and senior Alex Demeule during their fifth-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships to earn All-America honors.
Taxter and Connolly both turned in unofficial school-record splits to key the performance. McNamee kicked off the relay with a 3:03.368 1200-meter opening leg, before handing off the baton to Connolly who completed the 400-meter section in 48.351-seconds. Vercollone followed that up with a 1:54.100 800-meter third leg and then Taxter brought home the performance with an incredible 4:01.412 mile anchor. Stonehill won the relay by 14-seconds over Academy of Art (10.02.55), while Saint Thomas Aquinas College finished third (10:51.35).
Stonehill will send the 4000-meter distance medley team to the 2019 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships for the second-straight year from March 8-9 at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas, hosted by Pittsburg State University.
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