Biunno seventh in both 55m hurdles and 500m

BOSTON, Mass. (December 8, 2012) – Freshman Vincent Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) recorded two of the six top-10 finishes on Saturday afternoon for the Franklin Pierce University men's track and field team at the Harvard Open Track Meet, held at Albert H. Gordon Track.

Biunno finished seventh in a pair of events for the Ravens. First, he ran a 1:07.31 in the 500-meter dash as one of just two Division II racers in the field. His time put him 2.07 seconds off the lead, as Zach Campo of Univ. of Rhode Island won with a time of 1:05.24. Later, Biunno stopped the clock at 7.88 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. Again he was chasing URI runners, as Wayne Seaton took home first place at 7.56.

Biunno was not he only Raven to crack the top 10 in the 55-meter hurdles, as he had fellow freshman Robert Jean-Pierre (Lawrenceville, N.J.) hot on his heels. Jean-Pierre was just .05 seconds behind Biunno, running a 7.93 to place eighth. The event was extremely competitive, as all 16 runners across two heats were separated by less than a second.

Elsewhere, freshman Mike Abrams (Newark, N.J.) had the highest finish of the day for Franklin Pierce, as he finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.43. When all the heats were said and done, his time would be just .33 seconds behind URI's Anthony Davidson (22.10), as Rams finished first and second ahead of Abrams. Of note looking ahead to the Northeast-10 Championships, fellow NE-10 runner Dennis Stephenson of American International posted a nearly identical time to Abrams, running a 22.46 to finish fourth.

The Ravens also recorded a top-five finish in the 4x440-yard relay, as their 'A' team placed fourth in a time of 3:26.37. Running in the second heat, which featured three of the top four teams, Franklin Pierce finished less than two seconds behind Massachusetts Dartmouth's 'A' squad (3:24.82), which eventually stood as the winner. The specific members of the relay team were not available at press time.

The remaining top-10 finish on Saturday came in a distance event, as freshman Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) placed ninth in the 3000-meter run. His time of 8:52.96 was third among Division II competition and just shy of 30 seconds behind event-winner Michael Biwott of AIC.

The Ravens return to action on Sunday, Jan. 13, at the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, N.H.

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).