Stonehill Off to Solid Start at NE-10 Championships

Sophomore John Gelcius earned All-Conference honors for the javelin for the second-straight year with his second place finish on Friday night.

Lankow and Gelcius earn All-Conference honors, while Thomas dominant in hurdle prelims

LOWELL, Mass. (May 6, 2011) – The Stonehill College men's track and field team, ranked third in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Regional rankings index, is off to a solid start following day one of the 2011 Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, at Cushing Field Complex this evening.

Senior Zachary Lankow (Saugus, Mass./St. John's Prep) and sophomore Jonathan Gelcius (Greenwich, Mass./Greenwich) led the Stonehill finalists on day one by earning All-Northeast-10 honors in their events with a pair of second place finishes. Sophomore All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) was dominant in the preliminary round of the 110-meter high hurdles to easily qualify for tomorrow's final as he looks to defend his NE-10 title for that event.

Lankow was edged in the 10,000-meter run by 1.31-seconds as he and American International College freshman Valentin Poncelet both finished under the previous NE-10 Championship record time set in 2003 by Ryan Agnew of Bentley University. Poncelet took first in 32:20.20 to break the previous record of 32:23.54 as well as the facility mark of 32:36.01, while Lankow was right on his heels in 32:21.51.

Gelcius earned All-Northeast-10 honors in the javelin for the second-straight year with another second place finish on Friday. His throw of 183-feet, four-inches was edged out by AIC sophomore Shane Duplice at 186-03. Freshman Taylor Viotto (Washington, N.J./Warren Hills) also scored for the Skyhawks in the event with a distance of 170-05 to place fourth overall.

Senior Zachary Lankow earned All-NE-10 honors for the first time with his second place finish in the 10,000-meter run.

Thomas is safely in tomorrow's 110-meter hurdles final after finishing nearly three quarters of a second faster than the field with his facility record time of 14.75-seconds in the prelims. Freshman Xavier Harris-Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) tied for the second-fastest qualifying time with a heat run of 15.47-seconds.

Senior Mark White (Milton, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) led four Stonehill competitors in the discus throw with a distance of 127-feet, 4-inches. Classmates Daniel Newton (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial), the defending NE-10 champion for the event, and Patrick Fanning (Rockland, Mass./Rockland) placed eighth and tenth, with throws of 125-03 and 117-05, respectively.

Other Stonehill performances of note:

Sophomore Brandon Dunham (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh) was tenth in the long jump with a distance of 21-feet, 2.50-inches.

Freshman Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) was 11^th in the 10,000-meters with his time of 34:27.15.

The NE-10 Championships conclude on Saturday and then Stonehill will be back in action next weekend for the New England Intercollegiate Championships, hosted by Southern Connecticut State University, Friday and Saturday, May 13 and 14.