Junior notches personal best, meets NCAA provisional mark

PHILADELPHIA (April 22, 2015) – Junior Vinny Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) of the Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team finished second, out of five competitors on Wednesday, after competing in the second day of the decathlon at the prestigious Penn Relays, hosted by University of Pennsylvania at historic Franklin Field.

Biunno finished with a personal-best 6366 points, which surpasses the NCAA Championship provisional qualifying standard in the event, and currently ranks 20th in the nation. He finished 649 points behind Austin Jamerson of Cornell, who collected 7015 points to win the Penn Relays decathlon. Behind Biunno were Patrick Schlosser of Wesley in third (6211 points), David Karabinos of Cornell in fourth (6204) and Sean Collins of Penn in fifth (5286). Robert Poepperling of Misericordia started, but withdrew on Tuesday after the long jump.

Biunno finished second in three of Wednesday's five events, and his highest point total came in the day's opening event, as he ran a time of 15.39 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles to garner 803 points. In contrast, his worst event of the day was next, as he placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 22.47 meters, which was good for 319 points. Next, he was back to second place by clearing 4.00 meters in the pole vault, a mark which ranks second in the Northeast-10 on the year in the event and collected 617 points. In the javelin, Biunno placed fourth with a season-best throw of 42.71 meters to earn 482 points. Lastly, in the 1500-meter run, he stopped the clock at 4:46.95 to earn 637 points and finish second again.

The remainder of the Penn Relays is scheduled for the next three days, and the Ravens are scheduled to compete in four events on Thursday, two on Friday and one on Saturday.

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).