Senior Stephen Leonard placed sixth in the 5000-meter run to earn All-New England honors tonight. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Skyhawks sit ninth among team standings after three All-New England performances on day one
BOSTON, Mass. (February 28, 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, posted three All-New England performances on day one of the 2014 New England Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Boston University, at the BU Track & Tennis Center today.
Senior Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) and junior Bryan Wilcox (Plantsville, Conn./Southington) both earned All-New England honors for their performances in the 5000-meter run. Leonard finished sixth overall in 14:52.72, while Wilcox took eighth in 14:59.93. Leonard just missed the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C., in two weeks after the banked track conversion.
Stonehill's 4000-meter distance medley relay team earned All-New England honors for the second time in three years with its fourth place finish in 9:57.31 – second among Division II entries behind second place overall finisher American International College (9:52.77). Senior All-American Justin Blaszczyk (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown) ran the opening 1200-meter leg in 3:07.3, before freshman Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) ran the 400-meter leg in 48.5-seconds, with junior All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) completing the 800-meter leg in 1:51.4 before junior All-American Daniel Zawalich (Paxton, Mass./St. John's of Shrewsbury) ran the one mile anchor leg in 4:10.3. Baldasare's 400-meter and Cooney's 800-meter splits were school-record pace, while Zawalich's mile time would have improved his NCAA provisional qualifying time if all were run under official timing.
Junior All-American Patrick Cooney ran a school-record pace in his 800-meter leg to help lead the men's DMR to an All-New England finish. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Stonehill sits in ninth place in the team standings with nine points through five events scored on day one of the New England Championships. Northeastern University leads the way with 42 points, followed by Northeast-10 Conference Champions Southern Connecticut State University in second with 24. The Skyhawks are third among Division II programs so far.
Senior Xavier Dixon (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) advanced to tomorrow's semifinals for the 60-meter high hurdles with the second-quickest qualifying time as he won his preliminary heat in 8.09-seconds, trailing just Coast Guard Academy junior Adam Scalesse (8.08).
Senior Tyler Moules (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) qualified for tomorrow's 500-meter dash finals as he won his preliminary heat and posted the fifth-fastest time overall among the 25 entries at 1:05.20.
Junior Daniel Cormier (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) placed 16th in the weight throw with a distance of 51-feet, 1.75-inches.
Junior Robert Smith (Woburn, Mass./Woburn Memorial) just missed qualifying for tomorrow's 400-meter finals by just 0.02-seconds as he finished 14th out of 29 competitors in today's preliminary heats with a personal-best time of 49.31-seconds. The time also narrowly missed the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Championships after the conversion.
Junior Teague Grubel (Phoenix, Ariz./Shadow Mountain) missed qualifying for tomorrow's 200-meter dash finals by less than a quarter of a second as his time of 22.30-seconds places him 17th for the event out of 29 participants, finishing third in his qualifying heat.
Day two of the New England Championships tomorrow at Boston University starts at 10 a.m.
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