Junior All-American Corey Thomas won the 55-meter hurdles on Friday night and placed second in the high jump. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Thomas and Polito lead Skyhawks with winning performances
Stonehill compiled 54.33 points to finish behind four NCAA Division I programs and first among six Division II and III programs that earned points on the night. The University of Connecticut took first place with 187.50 points, followed by second place Brown University (81 points), host Northeastern in third (60.33) and the University of New Hampshire (55.50) in fourth.
Junior All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) improved his NCAA provisional qualifying time with his winning performance in the 55-meter high hurdles. He took first in the final in 7.48-seconds, just 0.03 shy of his own school record to move up to seventh on the NCAA Championships qualifying list with a 60-meter equivalency of 8.01-seconds. Thomas qualified for the final first overall in the field of 33 with his provisional time of 7.61-seconds.
Sophomore Xavier Harris-Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) also qualified for the final and placed fourth overall in 7.77-seconds. He qualified sixth overall in 7.93-seconds. Harris-Dixon also placed 34th in the 200-meter dash in 24.20-seconds.
Thomas, the reigning NCAA Division II indoor high jump national champion, was the runner-up to UConn junior Noel James in the event on Friday, improving his NCAA provisional qualifying height to 6-feet, 11.75-inches, moving up to sixth nationally this season. James cleared 7-01.75, while Stonehill freshman Nicholas Staley (Medway, Mass./BC High) took sixth overall with a height of 6-04.00.
Senior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) won the 5000-meter run in 14:47.81 – less a second shy of the NCAA Division II Championships provisional qualifying standard of 14:47.20.
Senior Stephen Polito won the 5000-meter run, finishing less than second shy of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark. |
Freshman Teague Grubel (Phoenix, Ariz./Shadow Mountain) posted a pair of impressive finishes in his two sprint events, starting with a third place finish (out of 61 sprinters) in the 200-meter dash with his time of 22.88-seconds. While he didn't make the final, Grubel placed 14th out of 47 sprinters in the 55-meter dash with his time of 6.76-seconds in his preliminary heat. Sophomore Michael Harris (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) was 24th in the 55-meter dash in 6.82 and 30th in the 200m in 24.00.
Stonehill's 4000-meter distance medley relay team made its season debut and placed third with a time of 10:18.80. Running for the Skyhawks were junior Samuel Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk), senior John Driscoll (Revere, Mass./Revere), freshman Daniel Zawalich (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) and junior All-American Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown).
Other Stonehill highlights include:
Freshman Teague Grubel shined in the sprints on Friday night. |
Freshman Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) placed sixth out of 47 runners in the 800-meter run with his time of 1:55.55. Sophomore Shawn Cronin (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Memorial) was 20th in 2:00.26.
Freshman Daniel Cormier (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) finished 18th in the shot put with a distance of 42-feet, 9.50-inches.
Stonehill returns to action next weekend with a pair of events on the docket. Skyhawks will compete at the Tufts University Pentathlon and Stampede on Friday and Saturday as well as the Charley Torpey Memorial Invitational, hosted by the University of Rhode Island on Saturday.
