DeCost finishes ninth

MEDFORD, Mass. (April 14, 2013) – Freshman Vincent Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) of the Franklin Pierce University men's track and field team piled up 5,891 points on Saturday and Sunday at Ellis Oval to finish first in the Tufts Decathlon. Fellow freshman Shawn DeCost (Nashua, N.H.) also competed in the event, as he finished ninth out of 12 participants.

Biunno set a break-neck pace on Saturday in the first day of the competition to build a big lead which he would not surrender. He opened the decathlon by taking first place in the 100-meter dash (11.54), with a time which ranks him 15th in the Northeast-10 Conference in that particular event. He would also finish first in both the long jump (6.38m) and the 400-meter dash (50.11), while tying for first in the high jump (1.90m). Biunno added a seventh-place finish in the shot put (9.31m) to run his first-day total to 3,382 points, good for a lead of 177 over Massachusetts Boston's Henry Morales.

Biunno was on pace to meet the NCAA Championship provisional qualifying standard in the decathlon (6,200 points), though he slowed a little through the second day's field events to come up 309 points shy. He posted a third-place finish in the pole vault (3.20m), but placed sixth in the javelin (37.46m) and 10th in the discus (20.79m) to fall off the provisional standard pace. Biunno limited the damage by opening Sunday's action with a win in the 110-meter hurdles (15.43) and by finishing the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run (4:50.91). His hurdles time currently ranks sixth in the Northeast-10.

When all was said and done, Biunno's 5,891 points is the third-best mark in the Northeast-10 thus far in the outdoor season. He is expected to represent the Ravens in the decathlon at the Northeast-10 Championship, where the multi-discipline event will be featured at the Conference lever for the first time.

Meanwhile, DeCost chalked up 4,787 points to record a ninth-place finish at Tufts. His strongest showings of the weekend all came on Saturday, when he finished fourth in the 100-meter dash (11.89), fifth in the high jump (1.81m) and sixth in the long jump (5.77m).

The Ravens are back on the track on Saturday, April 20, at the MIT Spring Invitational in Cambridge, Mass.

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).