Senior Patrick Fullerton placed second at the Trinity Invitational for the second-straight year to lead the Skyhawks to their second-straight team title. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Fullerton and Polito lead Skyhawks to second-straight team title at event in season debut

MANCHESTER, Conn. (September 11, 2010) – Stonehill College, ranked 19^th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II preseason poll, successfully defended its team title at the Trinity College Bantams Invitational today at Wickham Park with a dominating team performance.

Stonehill cruised to its second-straight win in the event with 28 points as all five scoring runners placed in the top ten and ten finished in the top 20. The University of Hartford was second with 63 points, while host Trinity took third with 68 points. Senior Patrick Fullerton (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill) paced Stonehill with a second place finish overall for the second-straight year, completing the 5-kilometer course in 15:54 – six seconds faster than last year's time. American International College sophomore Glarius Rop (Eldoret, Kenya) won the event with a time of 15:22.

Junior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) finished right behind Fullerton in third overall with his time of 15:57. Freshman Trent Fontanella (Pelham, N.H./Bishop Guertin) took fifth in his collegiate debut with a time of 16:17, while classmate Scott Waller (Andover, Mass./Andover) placed eighth in his first collegiate race in 16:30. Sophomore Sean Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./St. John's Prep) rounded out the Skyhawks scoring runners with a time of 16:38 to take tenth overall.

Each of Stonehill's scorers completed the course within a span of 44-seconds and the top ten who finished in the top 20 finished within 1:01 of one another.

Stonehill is back in action next Saturday when it participates in the Quinnipiac Invitational in Hamden, Conn., starting at noon.