Men’s Track & Field Captures Four Titles, Finishes Fourth at Northeast-10 Indoor Championships
Biunno scores in three events
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Minors was a part of three Northeast-10 titles on Saturday, including his first individual indoor crown: the 800 meters.BOSTON (February 21, 2015) – The Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team's distance medley relay squad broke its own Northeast-10 Conference record from a year ago to lay claim to one of the team's four Conference titles on Saturday at the Northeast-10 Championships, held at the Reggie Lewis Center. Sophomore Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) anchored both the DMR and the title-winning 4x800-meter quartet, as well as winning a Northeast-10 title of his own in the 800 meters.
In all, the Ravens were able to collect 84 points on Saturday, which was good for a fourth-place finish, out of the 11 teams which scored points at the meet. American International took home the Northeast-10 title at the team level, by scoring 149.5 points, to edge out Southern Connecticut State (140 points). Stonehill (115.5) finished third, directly in front of Franklin Pierce, while Adelphi (81) placed behind the Ravens to round out the top five.
The distance medley relay team was the highlight of the day for Franklin Pierce, which sent out a quartet of sophomore Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) to freshman Nicholas Jacques (Westfield, Mass.) to sophomore Matt Carpenter (Gloucester, Mass.) to Minors. The squad won the race in a time of 10:10.41, which knocked just over four seconds off of the Northeast-10 Championships record, which had been set by the Ravens a year ago.
It was one of two relay wins on the day for the Ravens, who were also victorious in the 4x800-meter relay. Holmes led off again, followed by Carpenter, senior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) and Minors. The foursome posted a 7:47.23 to claim the crown. Each relay victory tallied 10 points for the team.
Franklin Pierce also picked up individual titles in the 800 meters and the pole vault, to record another 20 points. Minors ran a 1:54.67 to win the 800, while junior Chris Bohi (Loudon, N.H.) cleared 4.10 meters to finish first in the pole vault. It was the first Northeast-10 title for Bohi, and the first individual indoor crown for Minors, who won the 800 at last year's Northeast-10 Outdoor Championships.
Junior Vinny Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) had arguably the strongest individual day for the Ravens, as he scored in three different events. He picked up eight points each with second-place finishes in both the 60-meter hurdles (8.34) and the high jump (1.94m). Biunno cleared 3.80 meters in the pole vault to finish eighth and earn one point.
In addition, Biunno ran the lead leg of the 4x400-meter relay, which stopped the clock at 3:27.19 to finish fifth and earn four points. Jacques ran the second leg, freshman Joshua Ercolini (Woburn, Mass.) ran the third leg and Minors ran the anchor leg.
The pole vault was one of the most successful events for the Ravens, who had three individuals in scoring positions. In addition to the aforementioned Bohi and Biunno, junior Max Fanwick (Wilton, Conn.) cleared 3.95 meters to finish sixth and earn three points.
Two Ravens met NEICAAA Championships qualifying standards while scoring points on Saturday. Junior Ryan Dionne (Amesbury, Mass.) finished fifth in the 60-meter dash (7.08), while junior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) placed fifth in the 5000 meters (15:00.32), as each earned four points. Also finishing fifth on Saturday were sophomore Cory Cataldo (Tewksbury, Mass.) in the 60-meter hurdles (8.58) and Gisore in the mile (4:18.36).
Elsewhere, Ercolini picked up three points by finishing sixth in the 500 meters (1:07.33) and sophomore Alex Bonitto (Lynn, Mass.) earned one point by placing eighth in the 800 meters (1:59.39) to round out Franklin Pierce's scoring on the day.
The Ravens return to the track on Feb. 27-28, for the NEICAAA Championships at BU Track & Tennis Center in Boston.
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).