Men's Track & Field Teams Post Top 10 Performances at Colonial Relays


Vercollone anchored the 4x800m relay to a fifth place finish on Saturday. (PHOTO BY Bob Blanchard)

Skyhawks 4x800 relay finishes fifth, while 4x1500 takes tenth

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (April 1, 2017) – The Stonehill College men's track and field program sent two relay teams to compete on the final day of the 52nd Colonial Relays, hosted by College of William & Mary, at Walter J. Zable Stadium today.

Both relays finished in the top ten with the 4x800-meter relay placing fifth out of 18 teams competing in the event, posting a time of 7:45.11. Senior Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Massachusetts/Hingham) ran the lead leg in 1:56.5, before handing off to sophomore Alexander Demeule (Merrimac, Massachusetts/Pentucket Regional) for a 1:56.1 split on the second leg, with classmate Riley Dowd (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody Veterans Memorial) running the third leg in 1:57.8, before sophomore Stephen Vercollone (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke) completed the anchor leg in 1:53.6. The Skyhawks were the first non-Division I program to finish the relay, which was won by Fordham University in 7:43.02.

Stonehill's 4x1500-meter relay added a top ten finish with its time of 16:15.00 to finish tenth out of 24 programs competing in the event. Senior Joe Santo (Newburyport, Massachusetts/Newburyport) ran the lead leg in 3:58.8, before handing the baton to Demeule for a 4:03.1 split on the second leg, and then sophomore Christopher Drace (Franklin, New Jersey/Pope John XXIII) ran the third leg in 4:07.0, before Dowd completed the anchor leg in 4:05.25. The Skyhawks were second among Division II relays and third among non-Division I teams as Villanova University won the event in 15:40.36.

Stonehill's four points from the 4x800-meter relay gives Stonehill a 40th place team finish at the three day event, competing in just the two events. Princeton University won the team title with 96 points.

The remaining Stonehill student-athletes will be at tomorrow's rescheduled Tufts University Snowflake Classic in Medford, Massachusetts, starting at 11 a.m.

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