Sophomore All-American Corey Thomas bolstered his top national position in the high jump and is now 6-0 in the event this winter. |
Sophomore All-American bests own NCAA Division II best high jump with sixth winning performance in as many indoor meets this season
Sophomore All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) was once again the man in the spotlight for Stonehill as he won the high jump event for the sixth time in as many meets this winter by topping his own Division II-best height. Thomas cleared 7-feet, 1.75-inches on his first try to top his previous season-best of 7-01.00 set at the Harvard Open in December. After clearing the new season-high, he went for a school-record 7-03.79 inches, but was unable to clear the bar after clearing his first five heights on the first attempt.
Thomas also placed third in the 60-meter hurdles, second among collegiate competitors, with a time of 8.17-seconds. He qualified second with a season-best time of 8.16-seconds at 60-meters in the preliminary round. Freshman Xavier Harris-Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) placed 12th in the final with a time of 8.62-seconds after qualifying ninth at 8.55.
On Friday afternoon, Stonehill placed fourth out of 21 teams in the 4000-meter distance medley relay with a school-record time of 9:53.45 – 0.02 faster than the previous school record of 9:53.47 set at this same meet in 2007. Friday's time was good enough to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., in March and is the fourth-fastest time in the country this season. Running for the Skyhawks were seniors Daniel Pilz (Newington, Conn./Newington), Nathan Morse (Whitinsville, Mass./Holy Name) and Patrick Fullerton (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill) and sophomore Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep).
Senior Nathan Morse was part of two school-record relay performances this weekend and also qualified for New Englands in the 800-meters. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
On Saturday, Morse also ran a leg for Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay team that logged a school-record time of 3:21.51 to place 23rd out of 47 teams and automatically qualify for the New England Championships. Also running for the Skyhawks were juniors Pak Lul (Portland, Maine/North Yarmouth Academy) and John Driscoll (Revere, Mass./Revere) and sophomore Colin Prior (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep). The team broke the previous record of 3:22.08 set at this event in 2006.
Hanlon and Morse finished 30th and 32nd, respectively, (in a field of 182) in the 800-meter run . Hanlon turned in a time of 1:54.39, while Morse finished in 1:54.78 as both automatically qualified for New England's. Lul also finished 23rd (out of 160 runners) in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.13-seconds.
Sophomore Samuel Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) placed 16th (out of 78 competitors) in the 1000-meter run with a New England Championships qualifying time of 2:28.98, while freshman Justin Blaszczyck (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown) finished 32nd in 2:31.36.
Freshman Thomas Banks (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) placed 35th (out of 57) in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:07.30 to qualify for New England's.
Seniors Daniel Fidler (Carlisle, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) and Zachary Lankow (Saugus, Mass./St. John's Prep) both automatically qualified for New England's and led four Skyhawks in the 3000-meter run with 51st and 54th place finishes, respectively, in the field of 105. Fidler posted a time of 8:30.41, while Lankow finished in 8:31.87. Junior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) was 73rd in 8:38.98, while sophomore Ethan Penney (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) was 76th in 8:39.79.
Sophomore Samuel Spencer placed 16th in the 1000-meters and qualified for New England's. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Other Stonehill highlights include:
Sophomore Kevin McCann (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) placed 11th in the pole vault (out of 24 competitors) by clearing a height of 12-feet, 11.50-inches.
Senior Daniel Newton (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) placed 17th (in a field of 47 throwers) in the shot put with distance of 44-feet, 10.75-inches, while classmate Patrick Fanning (Rockland, Mass./Rockland) was 24th at 41-11.50.
Sophomore Tim Johnson (Thomaston, Conn./Thomaston) finished 57th (out of 199) in the mile run with a time of 4:18.75.
Freshman Michael Harris (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) placed 45th (out of 91 competitors) in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.34-seconds.
Stonehill is back in action on Thursday night for the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center in Dorchester starting at 4 p.m.