Junior Herby Saintil broke his own school-record for the third straight week and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with his first place finish in the triple jump.

Saintil and Byrnes lead eight event winners for Skyhawks with school-record efforts

EASTON, Mass. (April 26, 2013) – The Stonehill College men's track and field program, ranked fourth in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Regional rankings, won its Skyhawk Invitational title for the fifth straight year with a dominating performance in its spring home meet.

Stonehill compiled 245 points to lap the field by more than doubling second place Bentley University (110 points). The Skyhawks won eight events on the weekend, two with school-record efforts. Boston University placed third (104), while Bryant University was fourth (91) and Boston College (79) rounded out the top five.

Junior Herby Saintil (Roslindale, Mass./BC High) won the triple jump and broke his own school record for the third straight week to lead the way for Stonehill. He cleared an NCAA provisional qualifying distance of 48-feet, 0.75-inches, breaking his previous best of 47-4.50 set last weekend at Holy Cross. Saintil also surpassed the W.B. Mason Stadium record of 47-6.26 set by William Nguidjoi of UMass Lowell in 2011. Freshman Justin Howard-Callender (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) finished fifth with a distance of 42-4.25, while junior George Georgaklis (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) was eighth at 40-1.50.

Saintil also placed fifth in the long jump with a distance of 20-feet, 5.25-inches, while Howard-Callender was third with a leap of 21-3.50. Georgaklis finished sixth at 20-3.50 and sophomore Robert Smith (Woburn, Mass./Woburn Memorial) took eighth at 19-1.50.

Senior Luke Byrnes (Glen Head, N.Y./Chaminade) won the pole vault with a school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying height of 15-feet, 5-inches, breaking his own previous record of 15-3.00 set at last year's Skyhawk Invitational. Classmate Kevin McCann (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) placed fourth at 13-5.25.

Senior Luke Byrnes won the pole vault and broke his own school record with an NCAA provisional qualifying height today. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Senior All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) led a sweep of the top two spots in the 110-meter high hurdles in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 14.44-seconds to win the event. Junior Xavier Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) was second in 14.80-seconds. Dixon also took eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.47-seconds.

Thomas and sophomore All-American Nick Staley (Medway, Mass./BC High) shared first place in the high jump as both cleared an NCAA provisional qualifying height of 6-feet, 9.75-inches and a jump-off could not produce a winner. While Thomas had already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships, Staley hits a provisional height for the first time during the outdoor season.

Senior John Gelcius (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) won the javelin throw competition in his season debut for Stonehill following an injury. He cleared a distance of 177-feet, 4-inches, while junior Taylor Viotto (Washington, N.J./Warren Hills) finished third with a distance of 168-02.

Sophomore Daniel Cormier (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) won the shot put with a distance of 47-feet, 5.25-inches and led a Stonehill sweep of the top three places. Freshman Mason Griffin (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) was second with a throw of 43-5.25, while classmate Andrew Hastings (Broad Brook, Conn./Hebron Academy) finished third at 42-8.25.

Hastings also placed third in the discus throw with a distance of 124-feet, 8-inches., while freshman Morgan Johnson (West Newbury, Mass./St. John's Prep) finished fourth with a throw of 121-01.

Cormier also finished fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 130-feet, 8-inches. Johnson placed fifth with a throw of 127-07.

Junior Tyler Moules (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.62-seconds. Senior Daniel Padilla (Bronx, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy) finished fourth in 1:02.59.

Moules also anchored Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay team that claimed a second place finish in 3:27.90. Also running the Skyhawks were Byrnes, Staley and Smith.

Senior All-American Corey Thomas won the 110-meter high hurdles and shared the high jump title today.

Stonehill's 4x800-meter relay team won with a time of 7:50.28. Running for the Skyhawks were sophomore All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy), freshman Nick Kirkpatrick (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep), senior Sam Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) and senior All-American Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep).

Hanlon, Spencer and Cooney also led an army of Stonehill runners grabbed three of the top four spots and five of the top seven in the 800-meter run. Hanlon led the way in second place with a time of 1:55.24, followed by Spencer in third place with a time of 1:55.42, while Cooney took fourth in 1:55.45. Kirkpatrick finished sixth in 1:57.09, while freshman Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) was seventh in 1:57.87.

Senior Ethan Penney (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) led four Stonehill runners in the 3000-meter run with a second place finish by establishing a school-record with a time of 8:40.70. Sophomore Daniel Gordon (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) finished third in 8:50.93, while classmate Brian Wilcox (Plantsville, Conn./Southington) placed fourth in 8:54.32 and junior Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) rounded out the Skyhawks in fifth place at 9:02.13.

Stonehill's 4x100-meter relay team placed fourth in 43.09-seconds. Running for the Skyhawks were junior Michael Harris (Danvers, Mass./Danvers), sophomore Teague Grubel (Phoenix, Ariz./Shadow Mountain), Smith and Thomas.

Other Stonehill Highlights Include:

Sophomore All-American Daniel Zawalich (Paxton, Mass./St. John's of Shrewsbury) led seven Stonehill entries in the 1500-meter run with a third place finish in 3:54.28. Senior Tim Johnson (Thomaston, Conn./Thomaston) took fifth in 3:55.38.

Michael Harris placed sixth in the 100-meter dash in 11.60-seconds. He also posted a sixth place finish in the 200-meter dash in 23.11-seconds.

Robert Smith finished tenth in the 400-meter dash in 51.65-seconds.

Stonehill opens its championship schedule next weekend with the Northeast-10 Conference Championships, hosted by American International College, in Springfield, Mass., Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4.

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