Ravens finish fifth, up four spots from 2013

BOSTON, Mass. (February 22, 2014) – Junior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) of the Franklin Pierce University men's track and field team laid claim to his first career Northeast-10 title on Saturday evening, as he won the mile at the Northeast-10 Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship, held at Reggie Lewis Center. Franklin Pierce also captured Northeast-10 titles in the distance medley and 4x800-meter relays on Saturday, on the way to 52 points and a fifth-place finish in the 10-team meet.

The trio of titles marked the first Northeast-10 indoor crowns for Franklin Pierce, which claimed its first Conference title in the decathlon at last season's Outdoor Championships, courtesy of Vincent Biunno.

Gisore's mile checked in at 4:15.79 and was good enough to better American International's Jeremy Antivo by just over one second to pick up 10 points for the Ravens. Both aforementioned relay squads chalked up 10 points each as well, as the three winners accounted for 30 of the team's 52 points on the day.

In the distance medley relay, a team of freshman Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.), freshman Matt Carpenter (Gloucester, Mass.), freshman Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) and Gisore threw down a 10:14.46 to take first place by less than a second over AIC. While it was well off the team's season best in the event, the time was good for a Northeast-10 Championship record.

The same four Ravens, albeit in a different order, picked up another relay win in the 4x800-meter relay, which went Minors-to-Carpenter-to-Holmes-to-Gisore. The quartet met the qualifying mark for the New England Championships along the way by posting a 7:56.07.

Elsewhere, Franklin Pierce had a banner day in the pole vault, with four finishing in the top eight to pile up a combined 11 points, a higher total than if the team had fielded just one jumper who won the event. Freshman John Delahanty (Long Beach, N.Y.) and sophomore Max Fanwick (Wilton, Conn.) each cleared 3.85 meters to tie each other, as well as Stonehill's Ryan Perkins, for fourth place. The mark was a season best for both, and freshman Mark Choiniere (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) also cleared 3.85 meters, also a season best, but finished seventh due to tiebreakers. Sophomore Chris Bohi (Loudon, N.H.) rounded out Franklin Pierce's scoring in the event by placing eighth with a vault of 3.70 meters.

Back on the track, a pair of fifth-place finishes were good for four points each for the Ravens. Individually, sophomore Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) took fifth in the 3,000 meters (8:58.06). Also finishing fifth was the 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Ryan Dionne (Amesbury, Mass.), sophomore Shawn DeCost (Nashua, N.H.), sophomore Isaac Fithian (Kingston, N.H.) and freshman Cory Cataldo (Tewksbury, Mass.), which posted a 3:32.47.

Franklin Pierce rounded out its scoring in the meet with a trio of eighth-place finishes worth one point each. In the 60-meter dash, Dionne qualified for the final with a season-best 7.18-second time in his preliminary heat, before finishing eighth in the final at 7.21 seconds. In the 500 meters, freshman Joey Souza (West Bridgewater, Mass.) ran a 1:11.01. In the high jump, freshman Brandon Jurasin (Oradell, N.J.) cleared 1.84 meters.

Southern Connecticut State piled up 193 points on the day to lay claim to its 11th Northeast-10 title in 12 years, after briefly vacating the throne last season. Defending champion Stonehill (147 points) took second, AIC (117) finished third and Adelphi (71) placed fourth ahead of Franklin Pierce in the top five.

The Ravens return to the track next weekend -- on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1 -- at the NEICAAA (New England) Indoor Championships at Boston University Track & 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).