Men's Track & Field Captures Meet Title at Lyon Invitational

NORTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's indoor track & field team captured the meet title on Saturday at the Lyon Invitational hosted by Wheaton College.

The Bears (177.5 pts.) placed first in seven events at the meet. WPI finished in second place with 164 points while Colby College (96 pts.) rounded out the top three teams in the standings.

Senior Thomas Barinelli (Tewksbury, Mass.) captured top honors in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.55 seconds. Barinelli also placed second in the long jump with a season-best leap of 21 feet, 7.25 inches (6.58m).

Freshman Jasen Jean-Louis (Framingham, Mass.) competed in the long jump for the first time in his collegiate career and won the event with a mark of 22 feet, 0.75 inches (6.72m).

Senior Exondus Barnes (East Providence, R.I.), competing for the first time this season, won the high jump with a leap of six feet, 2.75 inches (1.90m) and posted a third-place showing in the long jump (21'7.25"/6.58m).

Junior Kevin McBirney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) was the first to cross the finish line in the mile run with a PR of 4:25.30, while Stephen Spofford placed first in the 500-meter dash with a personal-best time of 1:06.13.

The foursome of Spofford, McBirney, junior Charles Dakai (Millville, Mass.) and freshman Nathan Branco (Fairhaven, Mass.) captured top honors in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:32.37, while the BSU quartet featuring graduate students Mason Matias (New Bedford, Mass.) and Jacob DeAndrade (Taunton, Mass.), and freshmen Matthew Mooney (Douglas, Mass.) and Zachary Feist (Stoughton, Mass.) placed first in the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:32.53.

DeAndrade also placed third in the 60-meter dash (7.10) while Matias also finished fourth in the 300-meter dash (36.54) and fifth in the 60 (7.21). Matias' time in the 60 marked a PR.

The Bears had three of the top five shot putters with graduate student Corey Stalters (Norton, Mass.) placing second with a PR of 50 feet, 2.75 inches (15.31m). Seniors Jonathan Quigley (Haverhill, Mass.) and Jason Dann (Reading, Mass.) finished fourth (43'8.5"/13.32m) and fifth (43'5"/13.23m), respectively, in the event.

Dann also placed second in the weight throw with a personal-best toss of 48 feet, 9.5 inches (14.87m) while classmate Leo Lopez (Haverhill, Mass.) finished fourth (41'9.75"/12.74m) in the event.

Rounding out the Bears' top five place winners were sophomores Michael Neitlich (Middleboro, Mass.), Drew Roberts (Manchester, N.H.) and Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown, R.I.); freshman Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.); senior Michael Young (Shrewsbury, Mass.); and sophomores Chris Beaulieu (Monson, Mass.) and Nicholas Grace (Acushnet, Mass.). Neitich and Roberts placed third (2:04.88) and fourth (2:06.82), respectively, in the 800-meter run, while Ackroyd was fourth in the 5,000-meter run (16:05.02), Fournier fifth in the mile (4:35.14), Young fifth in the 300-meter dash (36.93), Beaulieu fifth in the long jump (20'1.5"/6.13m) and Grace fifth in the triple jump (39'0.5"/11.90m).

Roberts and Ackroyd each recorded person-best times, while Neitlich, Fournier and Young were competing in their respective events for the first time.

The Bears are back in action next Saturday when they travel to Springfield College for the Massasoit Classic.

Notes: Stalters is currently ranked 22nd in all of Division III in the shot put while Barnes is 45th in the high jump and Jean-Louis is 50th in the long jump.