Cooney |
Saintil |
Baldasare |
Kirkpatrick |
Zawalich |
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Cooney earns Track Athlete of the Week; Saintil named Field Athlete of the Week
Baldasare collects Track Rookie of the Week honors
Distance Medley Relay receives second-straight Relay of the Week award
EASTON, Mass. (February 11, 2014) – The Stonehill College men's track and field program, ranked second in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Regional computer rankings, earned four of the five weekly award from the Northeast-10 Conference office on Monday following a strong performance at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, hosted by Boston University, over the weekend.
Junior All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) was named the Northeast-10 Track Athlete of the Week for the first time in his career, while classmate Herby Saintil (Roslindale, Mass./BC High) earned Field Athlete of the Week honors from the NE-10 for the first time. Freshman Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) was named the NE-10 Track Rookie of the Week for the first time and was also part of Stonehill's 4000-meter distance medley relay team that earned Relay of the Week honors for the second straight week, along with Cooney.
Stonehill's distance medley relay team earns the program's fourth NE-10 Relay of the Week selection of the indoor season, with its second-straight award. The Skyhawks placed second out of 21 teams on Friday afternoon with a season-best time of 9:53.64 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships next month in Winston-Salem, N.C. Stonehill led four NE-10 teams in the event and finished just 0.19-seconds behind first place Bates University. Their time, after being converted for BU's banked track (10:01.72), currently ranks sixth nationally, with 12 relay teams to be invited to the NCAA Championships.
Sophomore Nick Kirkpatrick (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) ran the opening 1200-meter leg in 3:01.3, before Baldasare completed the 400-meter leg in 49.3-seconds and Cooney posted a 1:52.2 split on the 800-meter leg with junior All-American Daniel Zawalich (Paxton, Mass./St. John's of Shrewsbury) completing the one mile anchor leg in 4:10.9. Kirkpatrick, Cooney and Zawalich were all part of Stonehill's DMR that earned Relay of the Week honors last week as well. Baldasare, Cooney and Zawalich all ran splits which would have been fast enough to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships if run under official timing on Friday. Cooney and Zawalich both competed for Stonehill's DMR that earned All-America honors at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships with a sixth place finish.
Junior All-American Patrick Cooney was part of two NCAA provisional qualifying efforts over the weekend. (PHOTO BY Bob Blanchard) |
Cooney collects his first Track Athlete of the Week award after being part of two NCAA provisional qualifying efforts over the weekend. In addition to his effort with the distance medley relay team, the All-American improved his provisional qualification standard in the 800-meter run with his personal-best time of 1:52.46 to place 24th out of 235 competitors – just 0.46-seconds shy of the school record. After conversion for BU's banked track, Cooney's time (1:54.07) ranks 19th nationally for the event, with 16 runners receiving invitations to nationals, and first in the NE-10. While Cooney earns his first Athlete of the Week selection from the NE-10, he has been part of three NE-10 Relay of the Week performances with two straight DMR efforts to go with a selection as part of the 4x800-meter relay on January 21.
Baldasare earns Track Rookie of the Week honors after strong performances in three events for Stonehill over the weekend. In addition to his role with the men's DMR, he just missed the provisional qualifying standard in the 400-meter dash after his time of 49.72-seconds was converted for BU's banked track. Baldasare placed 45th in the field of 196 entries and his time is fourth-fastest in the Northeast-10 this season. He also ran the second leg on Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay team that finished 13th out of 54 entries with a school-record time of 3:21.01, also narrowly missing the NCAA provisional qualifying standard after conversion. Baldasare ran a 50.4-second split during his leg.
Saintil earns NE-10 Field Athlete of the Week honors for the first time after finishing fourth out of 37 entries in the triple jump with a distance of 46-feet, 10.25-inches. It marks his second-longest leap of the season for the event after he provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with a school-record distance of 47-feet, 1.00-inch during a second place finish at the Joe Donahue Games on January 24, which currently ranks 28th nationally.
Saintil is a three-time USTFCCCA All-East Region performer in the triple jump over his collegiate career. He also earned All-New England and All-Northeast-10 honors during the outdoor season last fall, finishing second at the NE-10 Championships (47-11.25) and sixth at the New England Championships (46-04.25).
Stonehill is back in action this Saturday for its final meet before the start of the indoor championship season when it competes in the Tufts University Cupid Challenge in Medford, Mass., starting at 9 a.m. The Skyhawks will defend their Northeast-10 Indoor Track & Field Championship the following Saturday, February 22, at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center starting at 4 p.m.
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