Relays Shine for Men’s Track & Field in First Trip to Northeast-10 Indoor Championship

Gisore, Abrams lead way individually

BOSTON, Mass. (February 16, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men's track and field team had relay squads place in the top five in each of the three relay events on Saturday afternoon in the program's first-ever trip to the Northeast-10 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship, led by a second-place finish from the distance medley relay team. Franklin Pierce earned 27 points at the meet to finish ninth of 11 teams at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.

The distance medley relay team of sophomore Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) to freshman Shawn DeCost (Nashua, N.H.) to freshman Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) to junior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) clocked a 10:21.18, just over a second off the team's season best. The Raven quartet finished under four seconds behind the event champion, Stonehill (10:17.73). The second-place finish earned eight points for Franklin Pierce, was the highest finish in an event for the Ravens on Saturday and earned All-Northeast-10 Second Team honors for the four participants.

Gisore threw down a 4:17 running the anchor leg in the DMR (1,600m), but he wasn't done just yet, as he also ran the anchor leg of the of the 4x800-meter relay in 1:56 after Rugabirwa, Ham and freshman Isaac Fithian (Kingston, N.H.) ran the first, second and third legs, respectively. The team finished fourth (8:03.84) to earn five points, and the three who ran both the 4x800 and the DMR did so about 20 minutes apart. For Gisore, both relay runs came after his fifth-place finish in the mile (see below).

The 4x400-meter relay squad finished fifth (3:22.35) to pick up four points. An all-freshman team of Ryan Dionne (Amesbury, Mass.) to Adam-Corey Rander (Bronx, N.Y.) to Vincent Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) to Mike Abrams (Newark, N.J.) knocked nearly a second off the team's best time of the year, set at BU on Jan. 15.

Gisore and Abrams each picked up four points for the Ravens in individual events as well. Gisore placed fifth in the mile (4:14.15), as mentioned earlier, knocking over two seconds off his previous best time of the year, set at BU on Jan. 25. Abrams finished fifth in the 400-meter dash (50.02), with a run which placed second in his heat. The event was highly competitive, as the top nine finishers all posted times within one second of each other. Abrams narrowly missed points in the 200-meter dash, as he finished 10th (22.83), just 0.12 out of the top eight.

Biunno was the other Franklin Pierce competitor to chalk up points individually, as he finished seventh (1.89m) in the high jump to collect two points. He was one of four Fosbury Floppers whose highest jump was at 1.89m, and he finished third amongst the group after tiebreakers were applied. Earlier in the day, Biunno seemed destined for points in the 60-meter hurdles as well, as he qualified fifth after finishing second in his heat race (8.55). However, he committed a false start in the final and was disqualified.

Elsewhere, freshman Chaz Munroe (Concord, N.H.) dropped nearly seven seconds off his season-best time in the 3,000 meters to finish 11th (9:05.28). His time was less than seven seconds from garnering points.

Stonehill piled up 162 points on the day to edge Massachusetts Lowell (159.5) for the team title. The Skyhawks ended a run of 10 straight championships by Southern Connecticut State, which finished third (158). American International (71.5) and Bentley (41) rounded out the top five.

The Ravens return to the track on Friday, Feb. 22 at the 2013 NEICAAA Indoor Championships (New England Championships), a two-day meet hosted at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce track and field apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).