Duo cap indoor season in style

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 14, 2015) – Sophomore Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) finished sixth in the final of the 800-meter run and junior Vinny Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) finished 11th in the heptathlon on Saturday, as each earned All-America honors for the Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team on the second day of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, co-hosted by University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Biunno became the first student-athlete to earn All-America honors for the track & field program, as the final three events of the heptathlon took place on Saturday morning. He ultimately finished 11th out of 14 participants with a total of 4825 points. Along the way, Biunno finished seventh in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.58 seconds (841 points), 12th in the pole vault with a mark of 3.90 meters (590 points) and 11th in the 1000-meter dash with a time of 2:51.09 (754 points).

The top eight finishers in each event at the NCAA Championships earn All-America First Team honors, while the ninth through 12th finishers take All-America Second Team accolades. As a result, Biunno's 11th in the heptathlon earned him All-America Second Team honors.

Thus, Biunno was the only Raven to have ever earned All-America honors in track & field, but it was a distinction he held for only a few hours. Minors, who had won his heat in the preliminaries of the 800-meter run on Friday, took to the track in the 800-meter run finals. He threw down a time of 1:52.02 to finish sixth out of eight runners and become the first Raven to earn All-America First Team honors.

The day capped a wildly successful indoor season for the men's track & field team. Franklin Pierce will not have long to celebrate however, as the outdoor season begins later this week, on March 19-21, at the Shamrock Invitational, hosted by Coastal Carolina in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

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).