Sophomore All-American Corey Thomas earned NE-10 Championship Most Valuable Athlete honors for the second-straight year after capturing a pair of individual titles on Thursday night. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Thomas captures two individual titles, named Championships MVP
Lankow wins first NE-10 championship in 3000m; Four post All-Conference performances
Stonehill compiled 105 points to finish second in the team standings to Southern Connecticut State University who captured its ninth-straight NE-10 indoor championship with 158 points. The Skyhawks edged third place American International College's 103 points, while the University of Massachusetts Lowell took fourth (89 points) and The College of Saint Rose (41) rounded out the top five.
Sophomore All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) highlighted three individual championship performances for Stonehill, collecting a pair himself, and four All-Northeast-10 Conference efforts. Thomas earned the Men's Championship Most Valuable Athlete for the second-straight year and also collected his second-straight NE-10 Indoor Athlete of the Year honor.
Thomas opened the night by winning the 55-meter high hurdles championship for the second-straight year with a season-best time of 7.48-seconds in the final, breaking his own NE-10 Championships record time of 7.51-seconds in winning last year's title. Thomas qualified first for the final in 7.55-seconds in the preliminary round. Freshman Xavier Harris-Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) earned All-Conference honors with his second place finish in 7.73-seconds – just 0.01 shy of the NCAA Division II Championships provisional qualifying mark. He qualified second for the final with a time of 7.86-seconds in the prelims.
Senior Zack Lankow won the 3000-meter run for his first NE-10 title. |
Thomas completed the NE-10 Championships double for the first time in his career by winning his seventh high jump competition of the winter in as many meets. After finishing as the runner up in this event as a freshman, Thomas, ranked first nationally, captured the title with a leap of 7-feet, 0.25-inches. After clearing each of the previous heights on his first attempt, Thomas went for a personal and Championship-record 7-feet, 3-inches, and after nearly clearing the bar on his second try, was unable to set the mark.
Senior Zachary Lankow (Saugus, Mass./St. John's Prep) won his first NE-10 Championship with a first place finish in the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:41.69, collecting All-Conference honors for the first time in his career. Lankow led five Skyhawks in the field of 24 runners as junior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) took fourth in 8:46.35 and freshman Trent Fontanella (Pelham, N.H./Bishop Guertin) was seventh in 8:59.71. Freshman Michael Amirault (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) finished ninth in 9:03.82.
Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay team finished third in a race where the top three were separated by a mere 0.29-seconds with a time of 3:21.61. Running for the Skyhawks were senior Nathan Morse (Whitinsville, Mass./Holy Name), juniors John Driscoll (Revere, Mass./Revere) and Pak Lul (Portland, Maine/North Yarmouth Academy) and sophomore Michael Miela (Foothill Ranch, Calif./Trabuco Hills). American International won the relay in 3:21.32, with Southern Connecticut second in 3:21.39.
Junior Pak Lul set a school-record in the 500-meter run and placed third. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Lul and Morse ran third and fourth, respectively, in the 500-meter run in which the top four spots were separated by just 0.67-seconds. Lul edged out his teammate by a mere 0.01-seconds with a school-record time of 1:04.87-seconds, while Morse clocked in at 1:04.88. Both finished under the previous program record of 1.05.13-seconds set by Derek Hebert at the IC4A Championships on March 4, 2007.
Stonehill finished fourth in the 4000-meter distance medley relay with a time of 10:30.41. Sophomore Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep) was the lone runner from last weekend's school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying team that ranks fourth nationally to run a leg last night. He ran the anchor mile for a team that also included sophomores Tim Johnson (Thomaston, Conn./Thomaston), running the opening 1200-meters, and Ramses Monteiro (Peabody, Mass./Peabody), at 800-meters, with freshman Thomas Banks (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) running the 400-meter second leg.
Hanlon was also fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:55.38.
Stonehill's 4x800-meter relay took fourth in 7:58.70. Running legs for the Skyhawks were senior Patrick Fullerton (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill), sophomore Samuel Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) and freshmen Justin Blaszczyk (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown) and Christopher Dooley (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth).
Blaszczyk and Spencer finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 1000-meter run. Blaszczyk posted a time of 2:32.55, while Spencer was right on his heels at 2:32.95. Fullerton placed third in the mile run with a time of 4:14.40.
Junior Daniel Kincade placed third in the weight throw. |
Junior Daniel Kincade (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield) placed third in the 35-pound weight throw with a distance of 50-feet, 3.50-inches.
Worthy of note was a sixth-place finish by freshman George Georgaklis (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) in the triple jump – the final event to finish on the night that clinched second place for Stonehill. He posted a distance of 41-feet, 7.75-inches to claim the last points position in the event and seal the runner-up finish for the Skyhawks.
Other Stonehill highlights include:
Senior Daniel Fidler (Carlisle, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) and sophomore Ethan Penney (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 5000-meter run. Fidler posted a time of 15:07.58, while Penney finished in 15:11.17 leading five Skyhawks in the field of 22. Junior Corey Donahoe (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) placed 11th in 15:40.63.
Seniors Daniel Newton (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) and Patrick Fanning (Rockland, Mass./Rockland) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the shot put. Newton posted a distance of 44-feet, 7.00-inches, while Fanning had a throw of 44-03.50. Sophomore John Gelcius (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) also placed in the top ten with a distance of 42-06.25 for ninth place.
Sophomore Kevin McCann (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) placed sixth in the pole vault with a height of 12-feet, 11.50-inches.
John Driscoll placed ninth in the 200-meter dash in 23.11-seconds.
Stonehill's qualifiers for the New England Championships will be back in action next Saturday, February 26, for the Championships hosted by Boston University at the BU Track & Tennis Center.
