NORTON, Mass. – Led by senior thrower Michael McPherson (Mansfield, Mass), the Bridgewater State University men's indoor track and field team competed at the non-scoring Wheaton Invitational on Saturday.
McPherson led the BSU throwers by winning two events, the shot put and the weight throw. A throw of 53 feet 8.50 inches captured the shot put, and 52 feet, 8.75 inches won the weight throw.
Stephan Cawley (Dedham, Mass) and Christian Lavoie (Marion, Mass) were right behind McPherson in the shot put placing second and third, respectively. Cawley had a mark of 47 feet, eight inches and Lavoie followed with a throw of 46 feet, 3.25 inches. Cawley qualified for ECAC Championships and Lavoie qualified for the Division III New England Championships.
The Bears 4x200 relay team put together a school record-setting performance. The team of Joseph Danner-Hicks (Haverhill, Mass), Brian Espinosa (Rehoboth, Mass), Timothy Judge (East Bridgewater, Mass), and Joshua Danner-Hicks (Haverhill, Mass), ran a time of 1:31.68 to place second in the event and qualify for the ECAC Championships. They eclipsed the previous standard of 1:34.21 set in 2011.
Joseph Danner-Hicks and Espinosa also qualified for the ECAC Championships in the 60-meter dash, with times of 7.04 and 7.10 respectively. Hicks placed third and Espinosa was behind him in fourth.
In the 3000 meters, Dallas O'Brien (Mansfield, Mass) placed fourth with a time of 9:17.56. The 60- meter hurdles saw four Bears qualify for the finals. Matt Horan (Billerica, Mass), Cedric Lamour (Brockton, Mass), Daniel Coulter (Norton, Mass), and Justin Riley (Abington, Mass) placed first, fourth, eighth and ninth, respectively. Riley ran a 9.50, Coulter a 9.27, Lamour with a 9.09, and Horan ran a 8.69 just missing the ECAC mark by .04, but he did qualify for the Open New England Championships.
The distance medley relay team of Andrew Sukeforth (Middleboro, Mass), Kevin Sawyer (Woburn, Mass), Joshua Goehring (Haverhill, Mass), and Stephen Wahome (Lowell, Mass) placed second with a time of 10:38.00. The time was good enough to qualify for the ECAC Championships.
In the jumping events Ian Knapton (Mattapoisett, Mass.), Joshua Danner-Hicks, and Lamour led the way. Knapton placed second in the long jump with a Division III qualifying mark of 21 feet, 02 inches. Danner-Hicks and Lamour went 1-2 in the triple jump. Lamour had a mark of 43 feet, 4.50 inches, and Danner Hicks won with a mark of 45 feet, seven inches.
Next week the Bears travel to Boston University to compete at the Terrier Invitational. The women compete on Friday, with the men on Saturday.