Junior Mason Griffin won the shot put with a program-record distance of 51-06.50 tonight. (PHOTO BY SportsPix) |
Griffin leads five event wins for Skyhawks with school-record performance in shot put
EASTON, Mass. (April 24, 2015) – Stonehill College won its home Skyhawk Invitational for the seventh-straight year at W.B. Mason Stadium tonight, taking five event wins and seeing one school record fall under cold and windy conditions.
Stonehill compiled 169 points to win its eighth-annual home meet for the seventh straight year. Bentley University finished second with 122 points, while Bryant University was third (95 points), American International College fourth (88), Boston College fifth (83) and Boston University sixth (78).
Junior Mason Griffin (Wellesley, Massachusetts/Wellesley) won the shot put and finished with two top five placements to lead Stonehill to the team title. He broke the school record in the shot put with his first place distance of 51-feet, 6.50-inches, good enough to qualify for the New England Championships in two weeks. He broke the previous program record of 50-feet, 4-inches set by senior teammate Daniel Cormier (Methuen, Massachusetts/Methuen) at the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Championships. Freshman John Irving (Wareham, Massachusetts/Wareham) placed fourth with a throw of 43-07.25, while Cormier was sixth at 41-11.25 and sophomore Carmen Cilfone (Falmouth, Massachusetts/Falmouth) was seventh at 41-02.50.
Griffin was also fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 148-feet, 5-inches, while freshman Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) paced the Skyhawks in second place with a throw of 161-feet, 6-inches. Junior Morgan Johnson (West Newbury, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) placed fifth in the event at 144-01.
Stonehill swept the top two spots in the 800-meter run with junior All-American Nick Kirkpatrick (Carmel, Indiana/Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) finishing first out of 25 entries in 1:53.98. Senior All-American Patrick Cooney (Douglaston, New York/Archbishop Molloy) was right behind in second place with a time of 1:55.10, while sophomore Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Massachusetts/Hingham) was sixth at 1:56.73 and freshman Jason Dimmick (Sutton, Massachusetts/Sutton) finished seventh in 1:56.87.
Senior All-American Dan Zawalich won the 1500-meter run. |
Senior All-American Dan Zawalich (Paxton, Massachusetts/St. John's of Shrewsbury) won the 1500-meter run by over two seconds with a time of 3:56.83. Junior Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Massachusetts/Chelmsford) finished fifth in 4:03.03, while senior Michael Gendron (Lowell, Massachusetts/Lowell) placed tenth in 4:08.88.
Senior Robert Smith (Woburn, Massachusetts/Woburn Memorial) won the 400-meter hurdles in 56.40-seconds, over two and a half seconds faster than the second place finisher.
Smith also ran the lead leg of Stonehill's 4x400-meter A relay team which defeated the B-relay with a winning time of 3:27.01. Smith handed the baton to sophomore All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield), before freshman Joshua Hubbell (Gloucester, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) ran third leg and then senior All-American Teague Grubel (Phoenix, Arizona) ran the anchor leg.
Baldasare also finished fourth out of 14 entries in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.35-seconds, while Grubel placed sixth in 51.52 and Hubbell was ninth in 53.09.
Hubbell finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.19-seconds, while classmate Daniel Stone (Potsdam, New York/Potsdam) was seventh in 23.75-seconds. Freshman Patrick Ahern (Charlotte, North Carolina/Providence Day School) followed in eighth with a time of 23.90-seconds. Stone also placed ninth out of 20 entries in the 100-meter dash in 11.73-seconds.
Freshman Mark Hamalian (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham) placed third in the long jump with a distance of 21-feet, 10.25-inches, while Hubbell finished seventh with a leap of 20-11.25.
Senior Robert Smith won the 400-meter hurdles on Friday night. (PHOTO BY Sports Pix) |
Freshman Jordan Sullivan (Sound Beach, New York/Miller Place) and Hamalian finished second and third, respectively, in the high jump. Sullivan cleared a height of 5-feet, 11.50-inches, while Hamalian posted a height of 5-09.75.
Other Stonehill Results of Note:
Freshman Jon Naval (Stratford, Connecticut/Bunnell) placed third in the triple jump with a distance of 42-feet, 9.50-inches.
Freshman Anthony Innamorati (Clinton, Massachusetts/Clinton) placed third in the pole vault with a height of 13-feet, 7.25-inches. Classmate Michael Skinner (Verona, New Jersey/Oratory Prep) was third by clearing 11-07.25.
Sophomore Tyler Henseler (Coventry, Rhode Island/Bishop Hendricken) placed fourth out of 14 runners in the 3000-meter run with his time of 9:10.44. Classmate Antonio Xelhua (Arlington, Massachusetts/Arlington) finished seventh in 9:18.64, while senior Daniel Gordon (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North) took eighth in 9:21.41.
Freshman Kenny Vinacco (Scituate, Rhode Island/Scituate) placed fifth in the 5000-meter run in 16:15.90.
Freshman Jon Rockwood (Walpole, Massachusetts/Walpole) finished sixth in the javelin throw with a distance of 154-feet, 9-inches.
Freshman Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) placed seventh in the discus throw with a distance of 117-feet, 3-inches.
Stonehill opens its championship season next weekend when it competes at the Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Southern Connecticut State University on Friday and Saturday.
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