Sophomore Bryan Wilcox captured his first NE-10 title by winning the 10,000-meter run in an NE-10 Championship meet record. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Wilcox wins 10,000-meter run to highlight day one for Skyhawks
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 3, 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, sits in second place in the team standings after day one of the 2013 Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by American International College, at The John G. Hoyt, '52 Track & Field Complex today.
Stonehill has scored 49 points through seven events on Friday and trail two-time defending champions Southern Connecticut State University (78 points) by 29 points. The University of Massachusetts Lowell sits in third place with 43.50 points, while host American International is fourth with 34.
Sophomore Bryan Wilcox (Plantsville, Conn./Southington) led the way for Stonehill on day one by winning the 10,000-meter run in a Championship meet record time of 32:08.89. He broke the previous meet record time of 32:11.93 held by Adelphi University's Connor Dolan at last year's championship hosted by Southern Connecticut State. Junior Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) finished third in 32:30.98, while sophomore Michael Gendron (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) rounded out the Skyhawk entries in tenth place with a time of 33:13.05.
Stonehill finished third in a blazing fast 4x800-meter relay which saw the top three teams finish under the previous championship meet record time of 7:44.61 by American International last spring. The Skyhawks finished with a school-record time of 7:37.12, clipping the previous record time of 7:37.87 set at the 2011 New England Championships at Southern Connecticut State's Jess Dow Field. Running for Stonehill, who finished behind first place Southern Connecticut State (7:31.81) and UMass Lowell (7:33.00) were sophomore All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy), senior All-American Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep), freshman Nick Kirkpatrick (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) and senior Sam Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk).
Senior All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) and junior Xavier Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) claimed the top two qualifying spots for tomorrow's 110-meter high hurdles final. Thomas, a two-time champion at the event, qualified first in 14.69-seconds, while Dixon, the defending event champion, clocked in at 14.93-seconds to qualify second.
Senior All-American Sean Hanlon was part of Stonehill's 4x800-meter relay team that placed third in school-record time. |
Junior Alex Willgoos (Newington, Conn./Newington) sits in third place after the first five events in the decathlon with 3,177 points. He placed first among decathlon competitors in the shot put with a distance of 34-feet, 6.25-inches, to collect 517 points. Willgoos was second in the long jump with a leap of 20-feet, 3-inches for 624 points and third in the 100-meter dash (12.02-seconds), 400-meter dash (52.74) and high jump (6-feet, 2-inches).
More highlights for Stonehill include:
Stonehill placed three runners back to back to back in the top six of the 1500-meter run. Senior Tim Johnson (Thomaston, Conn./Thomaston) led the trio of Skyhawks in fourth place with his time of 3:55.36, with sophomore All-American Daniel Zawalich (Paxton, Mass./St. John's of Shrewsbury) right on his heels in 3:55.76 for fifth place. Sean Hanlon took sixth in 3:56.37.
Senior John Gelcius (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich), the reigning event champion, placed fourth in the javelin throw with a distance of 180-feet, 6-inches. Junior Taylor Viotto (Washington, N.J./Warren Hills) also scored in the event for the Skyhawks with a sixth place throw of 164-09.
Senior Luke Byrnes (Glen Head, N.Y./Chaminade) placed fourth in the pole vault by clearing a height of 13-feet, 11.25-inches.
Freshman Andrew Hastings (Broad Brook, Conn./Hebron Academy) finished seventh in the discus throw with a distance of 131-feet, 3-inches. Classmate Morgan Johnson (West Newbury, Mass./St. John's Prep) placed tenth with a throw of 122-10.
Junior Michael Harris (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) finished 11th in the 100-meter dash prelims, missing out on tomorrow's final by just 0.06-seconds, with his time of 11.65-seconds.
The Northeast-10 Championships conclude on Saturday with the multi-events getting the day started at 10 a.m., followed by the first field events getting underway at 10:30 a.m., and then the track events starting at 12:30 p.m.
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