Second national championship event the program is competing at this year

RINDGE, N.H. (June 19, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s track & field/cross country program will once again be on the national stage this week as two members of the program will take part in the 2013 USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Vincent Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) and Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.), both rising sophomores for upcoming 2013-14 season, are the two Ravens competing in the event which will go from June 19-23 at Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University.

This week’s event marks the second national championship Franklin Pierce is attending this year, as Ham represented the school at the 2013 USATF Junior Cross Country National Championship back in early February in St. Louis, Mo.

Having at least one individual compete at a pair of national championships is impressive, but it takes on even more significance in that Franklin Pierce just recently wrapped up its inaugural season of intercollegiate varsity competition in 2012-13.

“I’m really excited for both of these guys because they’ve worked so hard for the opportunity to compete in this championship against some of the best athletes in the country,” head coach Zach Emerson said.

Biunno enters this week’s junior national championship as the reigning Northeast-10 Conference champion in the decathlon, which he won last month in Springfield, Mass. with a score of 6,216 points. He has spent the past month working out on his own and is ready for the decathlon, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday.

“I’ve been working hard each day since it was announced I would be going to nationals,” he said. “Coach Emerson and coach (Dyrace) Maxfield have really taken the time to work with me this year and it has paid off. There are going to be a lot of great athletes at this event and I’m looking forward to seeing how I stack up against them.”

Ham will be competing in the 10,000 meters, which will be held on Friday. He also earned all-region honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase during the outdoor season, which came on the heels of a phenomenal cross country campaign that saw him receive All-NE-10 and All-East honors. Ham has been competing in several 5k runs this spring in preparation for this week’s event.

The top-eight finishers in each event will earn All-America status at the championship.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s track & field/cross country, please visit the teams’ respective pages at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the programs even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce track & field or cross country apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)