Men's Track & Field Opens Indoor Season at Suffolk Relays

By Jim Fenton

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's track & field team had four individual winners at the Suffolk Relays Saturday.

Graduate students Chigozie Adigwe (Lowell, Mass.) and Kevin McBirney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) along with junior Matthew Mooney (Douglas, Mass.) and freshman Jayvon Lodge (Brockton, Mass.) were first in their respective individual events at the Reggie Lewis Center.

The season-opening meet included other collegiate and club teams from the region.

Adigwe was the winner in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.43 seconds. Two other BSU sprinters placed in the event with senior Ryker King (Wareham, Mass.) second in 8.61 seconds and sophomore Drew Alves (Taunton, Mass.) taking fourth in a PR of 9.11 seconds.

McBirney was first in the 800-meter run in a time of 1:54.48.

Teammate Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.), a junior, was third in the race with a PR time of 1:58.34.

Mooney had a PR time of 36.00 seconds to win the 300, and was eighth in the 60 with a time of 7.20 seconds.

The Bears' 4x400-meter mixed relay squad featuring McBirney, senior Nicholas Grace (Acushnet, Mass.) and women's track & field athletes Kiara Abrantes (Sr., Somerset, Mass.) and Bella Grover (So., Warren, Mass.) won the event in a time of 3:46.74.

Grace was also third in the 300 with a time of 37.27 seconds while junior Zachary Feist (Stoughton, Mass.) placed fourth in the 300 in 37.26 as they both PR'd in the event. Grace was also third in the triple jump with a leap of 39 feet, six inches (12.04m) while freshman John Duffy (Franklin, Mass.) placed sixth in the triple jump (36'9.5"/11.21m)

Lodge had a successful collegiate debut, winning his first event by throwing the shot put 44 feet, 6.25 inches (13.57m).

The Bears had fourth others in the top 14 in that event.

Another freshman, Christopher Williams (Burlington, Mass.), took fifth with a throw of 41 feet, 3.25 inches (12.58m) and junior Anthony DeGloria (Canton, Mass.) was 10th with a throw of 37 feet, 3.25 inches (11.36m).

Senior Colin Daly (Easton, Mass.) was 12th with a throw of 36 feet, five inches (11.10m) and freshman Ethan Lippens (Weymouth, Mass.) was 14th with a throw of 35 feet, 9.25 inches (10.90m). Daly also took fifth in the weight throw with a career-best mark of 44 feet, 0.5 inches (13.42m).

Freshman Sean Venator (Manchester, N.H.) finished second in the 400 with a PR time of 51.48 seconds while senior Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown, R.I.) was third in the 5,000-meter race posting a career-best time of 15:06.64.

Junior Brian Vale (Assonet, Mass.) was a third-place finisher in the 1,000 with a PR of 2:41.46. In the 200, senior Dasean Peters-Wolfe (Mansfield, Mass.) was fourth in 22.95 followed by BSU graduate student Landon Crowley (West Bridgewater, Mass.) in sixth in 23.25.

In the long jump, freshman Clayton Pastor Norales (New Bedford, Mass.) finished fourth with a PR leap of 22 feet, one inch (6.73m).

BSU was fourth in the mixed 4x400 relay with Fournier and King joining sophomore Olivia Downin (Hudson, Mass.) and freshman Olivia Pendleton (Yarmouthport, Mass.) of the women's team to finish in 4:10.63.

The second and final meet of the first semester takes place next Saturday when the Bears compete in Boston University's Mini-Meet.