Men's Track & Field Captures Third Straight MASCAC Indoor Title

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's track & field team captured its third straight conference indoor title and fifth in the last eight years on Saturday at the 2020 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Smith College.

Bridgewater State amassed 246 team points as they outdistanced second place Westfield State University (168 pts.) by a healthy margin. Fitchburg State University placed third with 109 points, while Worcester State University (57 pts.) finished fourth.

The Bears captured ten individual MASCAC championships as well as a pair of conference relay titles.

Sophomore Matthew Lighten (Dalton, Mass.) recorded a new MASCAC meet record in the 200-meter dash running a time of 21.94 seconds as he bested the previous standard of 22.01 seconds set by Stanley Egbor of Worcester state in 2000. Lighten's time currently stands at #1 in all of Division III.

Sophomore Jacob DeAndrade (Taunton, Mass.) and senior Lamont Haynes (Boston, Mass.) also grabbed sprints titles. DeAndrade ran a career-best in the 60-meter dash with a finals time of 6.95 seconds and Haynes captured the 400-meter dash title with a season-best time of 50.72 seconds.

Junior Joseph Zingarelli (North Kingston, R.I.) broke his own school record in the pole vault with a MASCAC winning jump of 14 feet, 1.5 inches (4.30m). Classmate Andrew Chen (Waltham, Mass.) tied the school record in the high jump placing second at the meet with a leap of six feet 4.75 inches (1.95m). Chen equaled freshman teammate Exondus Barnes' (East Providence, R.I.) performance from earlier this season.

Also setting a school record, the 4x200-meter relay squad consisting of Lighten, DeAndrade, Haynes and sophomore Jadin Bruneau (Taunton, Mass.) ran a time of 1:28.66 to capture the conference title. The foursome bested the previous BSU indoor mark of 1:29.45 set in 2013 by Joseph Danner-Hicks, Joshua Danner-Hicks, Brain Espinosa, and Timothy Judge. The time was also good enough to set a new MASCAC standard beating the previous time of 1:30.84 also held by Bridgewater State.

Senior Joshua Higgins (Fitchburg, Mass.) won a pair of individual titles. Higgins ran a personal-best time of 4:23.73 in the mile and added a victory in the 600-meter run (1:23.48).

Freshman Joseph Madden Jr. (Milford, Mass.) earned a win in the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 2:00.68, while seniors Trevor Wysong (Taunton, Mass.) and Mike Hutchinson (Leominster, Mass.) swept the long-distance events. Wysong was the first to cross the finish line in the 5,000-meter run checking in at 15:28.37. Hutchinson posted a time of 9:10.53 to place first in the 3,000-meter run.

Senior Nick Johnson (Marstons Mills, Mass.) won the weight throw with a toss of 57 feet, 1.75 inches (17.42m).

The Bears closed out the meet by winning the 4x400-meter relay team. Haynes, Higgins, senior Olivier Ndikumana (Amherst, Mass.) and junior John Lara (South Boston, Mass.) captured the event with a time of 3:28.48.

Next weekend, several members of the BSU track and field teams will compete at the Bowdoin Invitational.

Notes: The Bears also captured the MASCAC indoor championship in 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2019.