Young set a program record in the shot put to finish first today and also PR'd in the discus (PHOTO BY Bob Blanchard) |
Young breaks program record in shot put, posts first and second place finish on the day, along with Ireland
EASTON, Mass. (April 27, 2019) – The Stonehill College men's track & field program won its home Skyhawk Invitational for the 11th-straight year, keyed by seven event wins and 17 top-fives, in the 12th annual event at W.B. Mason Stadium today.
Senior Xavier Young, competing in a home event for the first time after missing last year's Skyhawk Invitational, turned in a program-record performance to win the shot put in a field of 24 entries, with a personal-best distance of 52-feet, 9.50-inches. He reached the record distance with his third throw of the opening round and breaks the previous program mark of 52-07.50 by Mason Griffin, '16 at the 2016 New England Championships in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 14, 2016. Young's record throw is also just 0.07 shy of the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark.
Young also neared the program mark and logged a second personal-best of the day in the discus throw, placing second out of 22 entries this afternoon with a distance of 142-feet, again on his third throw.
Stonehill's seven event wins keyed its 11th-straight team win at its home event, finishing with 144 points. Merrimack College took second with 105 points, while Bryant University was third with 100 points.
Ireland won the 100-meter dash and finished second in the 200m (PHOTO BY Mark Connolly) |
Stonehill swept the top three spots in the 1500-meter run, placing five of its nine entries in the top ten. Freshman Nickolas McNamee finished first in his first collegiate 1500 in 4:02.05, followed by senior All-American Alex Demeule in second in 4:02.94 and then senior Christopher Drace rounded out the top three in 4:04.23. Senior Matthew Shaw posted a sixth place finish in 4:13.01, while sophomore Kevin Wheelock was tenth in 4:15.09.
Junior Justin Ireland won the 100-meter dash and finished second to senior teammate Joe Connolly in the 200-meter dash as Stonehill posted eight top-five finishes in the sprint events. Ireland led 19 entries in the 100-meters in 11.03-seconds, while Connolly finished first out of 20 in the 200-meters in 22.46-seconds. Ireland was second in the 200 in 22.54-seconds, while sophomore Desmond Bernal placed seventh in the 100-meter dash in 11.71-seconds, to go with a tenth place finish in the 200-meters in 23.65. Ireland also turned in an eighth place finish in the long jump, clearing a distance of 19-feet, 8.25-inches.
Sophomore Ethan Famiano won the 110-meter high hurdles in a personal-best 14.87-seconds, while junior Collin Kuchachik was fourth in 15.37-seconds.
Ireland, Connolly, Bernal and Famiano also combined to lead Stonehill's 4x100-meter relay to a first place finish in 43.45-seconds. Bernal ran the lead leg, followed by Ireland and Famiano, with Connolly bringing the baton across in the anchor leg.
Famiano won the 110-meter hurdles in a personal-best time (PHOTO BY Courtney Daggett) |
Junior Jeremy Breen and freshman Anthony Magazzu finished second and third, respectively, in a field of 12 in the 400-meter dash. Breen posted a time of 51.11-seconds, while Magazzi finished in 51.20.
Senior All-American Stephen Vercollone rounded out Stonehill's event winners with his first place finish in the 800-meter run, leading a field of 22 runners that included four Stonehill entries that all finished in the top ten. Vercollone posted a winning time of 1:53.73, while freshman Evan Kennedy finished fifth in a personal-best 1:58.09, sophomore Christopher Lanahan placed seventh in 1:58.65 and sophomore Jack Herndon took ninth in 2:01.76.
Other Stonehill results include:
Freshman Jack Bowers turned in a second place finish, out of ten entries, in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 55.13-seconds, leading the non-Division I entries in the event.
Freshman Robert Lisi placed fourth out of 14 entries in the hammer throw with a distance of 131-feet, 11-inches.
Freshman Christopher Kelly placed 11th in the 5000-meter run in a personal-best 16:43.55.
Stonehill will open its championship season next weekend, when it competes at the Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Southern New Hampshire University, at Penmen Stadium in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday and Saturday, May 3-4.
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