Ham, Wooten add top-five finishes

BOSTON (February 20, 2016) – Senior Vincent Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) piled up 29 points on his own, while junior Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) was a part of two Northeast-10 Conference titles on Saturday, to lead the way for the Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team at the Northeast-10 Championships, held at Reggie Lewis Center. In all, the Ravens collected 81 points to finish third out of 11 teams.

In the 1000 meters on Saturday, Minors laid claim to his third career individual indoor Northeast-10 title. He ran a time of 2:30.27 to finish first and collect 10 points. It was one of two top-five individual finishes for Minors on the day, as he also placed fifth in the 400 meters, with a time of 50.40 seconds to earn four points.

Minors ran the anchor leg on a pair of scoring relays for the Ravens, including the title-winning 4x800-meter squad. Junior Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.), sophomore Joshua Ercolini (Woburn, Mass.), senior Chris Birotte (Lynn, Mass.) and Minors checked in with a time of 7:51.37 to finish first and earn 10 points. Minors also anchored the 4x400-meter quartet, which earned two points with a seventh-place finish. Junior Cory Cataldo (Tewksbury, Mass.), sophomore Nicholas Jacques (Westfield, Mass.), junior Alex Bonitto (Lynn, Mass.) and Minors combined to run a 3:28.61.

Franklin Pierce also laid claim to the Northeast-10 title in the distance medley relay on Saturday, clipping just shy of a quarter-second off of its own Conference record from a year ago in the process. A lineup of Holmes, junior Matt Carpenter (Gloucester, Mass.), Ercolini and junior B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) posted a time of 10:10.18 to pick up 10 points for the Ravens.

Meanwhile, Biunno was busy scoring in four different events at the Northeast-10 Championships, including a trio of second-place finishes worth eight points apiece. In the 60-meter hurdles, he won his preliminary heat with a time of 8.33 seconds to advance to the final, where he ran a time of 8.30 seconds to finish second. In the high jump, he finished second by clearing 1.99 meters to meet the NEICAAA Championships qualifying standard in the event. Biunno's remaining second-place finish came in the pole vault, where he cleared 4.41 meters. He also added a fourth-place finish for five points in the long jump, where his leap of 7.13 meters met the NCAA provisional and NEICAAA qualifying standards.

Elsewhere in field events on Saturday, graduate student Andre Wooten (St. Charles, Mo.) picked up eight points with a second-place finish in the triple jump, where he posted a hop, skip and jump of 15.16 meters. Senior Chris Bohi (Loudon, N.H.) collected two points for the Ravens in the pole vault, as he cleared 3.96 meters to finish seventh.

A pair of track events rounded out Franklin Pierce's scoring on the day. In the 5000 meters, senior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) turned in a time of 15:10.63 to finish fourth and earn five points. Meanwhile, Cataldo finished second behind Biunno in his preliminary 60-meter hurdles heat, with a time of 8.61 seconds, which Cataldo then followed up with a mark of 8.57 seconds in the final, to place eighth and earn one point.

Overall, American International piled up 177 points on Saturday to win its second straight Northeast-10 indoor title. Southern Connecticut State (121.5 points) finished second, while Franklin Pierce narrowly edged Stonehill (79) for third place. New Haven (67) rounded out the top five.

The Ravens return to the track on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27, when they return to Boston for the NEICAAA Championships at the BU Track & Tennis Center.

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).