NEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships Information

EASTON, Mass. (May 5, 2023)- The Stonehill College men's track and field team will be in North Andover, Mass. this weekend for the Northeast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships (May 6 and May 7). 

"We are excited," said Head Coach, Michael Delgado. "This is the best time of year, championship season. This is everything we have worked for in the regular season and has led up to. So hopefully we are positioned to do as well as we can. We've been training our student-athletes to peak for this meet, so we're hoping to see the best performances of the year coming this weekend."

Stonehill will have its most runners competing in the 5,000-meter led by Colin Black, Aidan Byrne, Nicholas Cozzolino, Patrick Garratt, Jace Hollenbach, and Reilly Johnston. Garratt has had a strong outdoor year as the junior has notched multiple top-10 finishes in the event including a first-place mark at the Merrimack Track Carnival (April 6). In that meet, Garratt set a new career best with a time of 15:12.65 which is also the 15th best in the conference. Black is also one of Stonehill's strong runners in the event as he posted his best time at the Holy Cross Invitational (15:13.13) back on April 22. Black has notched two top-five finishes in the event highlighted by his second-place mark at the Merrimack Track Carnival on April 6 when he crossed the finish line at 15:18.50. Johnston and Cozzolino each set personal records during the outdoor season in the 5,000 meters at 15:21.59 and 15:31.13 respectively at the Merrimack Track Carnival. Hollenbach also produced multiple top-10 finishes this year and ran a season-best, 15:25.99 at the Merrimack Track Carnival which was also good for fourth place. Finally, Byrne finished the 5,000 meters with a season-high time of 15:30.01 which was also at the Merrimack Track Carnival.

The Skyhawks will feature three relay teams at this weekend's meet including the 4x100 meter, 4x400 meter, and 4x800 meter. Black, Byrne, and Garratt are also partaking in the relays as members of the 4x800 team that also features Thomas Forde, Connor Hughes, Louis Warner, and David DiPietro. In the 4x100, Stonehill will have Shea Drugan, Solomon King, Ryan Lavery, John Paulhamus, Zachary Ofurum, and Patrick Morin. Earlier this year's 4x100 meter relay team broke a school record from 2018 when the Purple and White finished in first at the Merrimack Alumni Classic at 41.59 seconds. With that strong performance, the Skyhawks rank second in the conference in that event. Drugan, King, Lavery, Paulhamus, Ofurum, and Patrick Morin will also be running as members of the 4x400 meter team along with Andrew Morin. The squad posted a season-best time of 3:27.34 at the Merrimack Alumni Classic which is seventh best in the NEC. 

The 1,500 meters will have the squad's second-most runners (four) including Hollenbach, Hughes, and Johnston along with Andrew Janus. Johnston and Hollenbach each set personal records at the Skyhawk Invitational in the 1,500 meters with times of 3:59.12 and 4:00.59 respectively. Both Johnston and Hollenbach have each recorded top-five finishes in the 1,500 meters during the outdoor season. Meanwhile, Hughes also is a multi-top-five finisher in the 1,500 meters as he ran a season-best time of 4:00.67 at the Merrimack Alumni Classic and crossed the finish line in fifth place. Finally, Janus in his only race for the 1,500 meters this year, the senior earned a 25th-place finish at 4:18.05.

King will be running the most individual races this weekend as he will be in three events: 100 meters, 200 meters, and high jump. In the 100-meter, King set a career-best at 10.79 seconds which was one of his two first-place finishes. King's time in the 100-meter is the seventh-best in the conference. King also dominated the 200-meter dash with a season-best time of 21.52 seconds which is the fifth-fastest time in the NEC. The junior sprinter has notched two first-place finishes in the 200-meter with the first coming at the Merrimack Alumni Classic and the other at last week's Skyhawk Invitational. Despite only partaking in the high jump twice this outdoor season, King posted his best finish (second place) at the Skyhawk Invitational with a leap of 1.80 meters (5' 10.75"). His jump at last week's meet is currently the ninth-highest in the conference.

Joining King in the 100 and 200 meters is Drugan who also excelled at both events this outdoor season. Throughout the spring, Drugan finished within the top 10 each time in the 100 meters including two third-place finishes at both the UMass Lowell Invitational (March 26) and at the Merrimack Alumni Classic.  At the UMass Lowell Invitational, Drugan ran a personal best, of 10.96 seconds which is the 13th fastest time in the conference. Drugan ran equally as well in the 200 meters and posted top-five finishes in each meet during the spring including a first-place mark at the UMass Lowell Invitational with a time of 21.94 seconds. At the Merrimack Alumni Classic, he set a career-best time of 21.88 seconds for third place, and in terms of the conference, it is the eighth fastest time.

Jacob Pacheco will see action in three events this weekend that include pole vault, high jump, and javelin. In pole vault, Pacheco has had two top-five finishes including a second-place mark at the Holy Cross Invitational (April 22). Pacheco's numbers were 4.50 meters (14' 9") which was good for second place and is the fourth best in the conference. Cody DeAngelo will also join Pacheco in the pole vault as he had a season-high leap of 4.25 meters (13' 11.25") at the Skyhawk Invitational which is the seventh-best in the NEC. Pacheco has also been a strong competitor in the high jump with his three top-five finishes in the event. Out of those finishes, one ended up being for first place which was at the Skyhawk Invitational. The sophomore had a season-high leap of 1.90 meters (6' 2.75") and is the fourth highest in the NEC. Finally, in the javelin, Pacheco had his best finish in the event (second place) also at the Skyhawk Invitational when he set a new personal best with a throw of 56.16 meters (184' 3"). His throw is currently in the top five (fifth) of the NEC. 

Both Parker Hagen and Levi Wurster represent the Skyhawks in the triple jump and each has had great performances throughout the spring. Hagen led the way for the squad with his three top-five marks which included a first-place finish at the Skyhawk Invitational. At last week's meet, Hagen's winning leap was measured at 13.52 meters (44' 4.25") and ended up being a career-high along with ninth best in the NEC. In each meet he's competed in this spring, Wurster has finished within the top five. The freshman's best meet came at last week's Skyhawk Invitational when he also had a personal best at 12.62 meters (41' 5").

DiPietro and Warner will be running in the 800 meters led by Warner's personal record time of 1:57.36 at the Skyhawk Invitational. In three of the four meets this spring, Warner has run a sub-two-minute time and finished within the top five twice. DiPietro's best time came during the Merrimack Track Carnival when he set a career-best with a time of 2:01.53. 

In the 110-meter hurdles, Jake Dwyer had three top-10 finishes including a seventh-place mark at the Merrimack Alumni Classic (17.79 seconds). He set his season-best time at the Skyhawk Invitational with a time of 17.73 seconds. Andrew Morin will be running the intermediate hurdles and ran a season-best, 57.06 seconds at the Merrimack Alumni Classic which ended up being good for fourth place. Prior to that, Morin ended up coming in first at the Merrimack Track Carnival with a time of 59.40 seconds. 

Stonehill will be seeing two Skyhawks represent the Purple and White in discus, Michael Gozzo and Eli Grover. Grover led the way this spring for Stonehill in the event as he had a career-high throw of 39.74 meters (130' 4") at the Holy Cross Invitational. Gozzo was equally as impressive in discus throughout the spring. Gozzo had a season-high throw of 39.35 meters (129' 1") which ended up winning at the Skyhawk Invitational. 

Jonathan Scampoli will look to make a strong impression in shotput as the freshman has finished within the top 10 three times. This included a fourth-place finish at the Merrimack Track Carnival where he had a season-high mark of 12.77 meters (41' 10.75"). 

Chris Cox represents Stonehill in the hammer throw where he had three top 10 finishes this spring. His best throw came during last week's Skyhawk Invitational when he set a new personal record at 46.65 meters (153' 1") and is the 11th best in the conference.

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Headline Photo Credit: Margaret Gallagher.