By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's indoor track & field team competed at two different locations on Saturday.

Several members of the squad participated at the River Hawk Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell, while the majority of the team contended at the Wheaton Invitational.

River Hawk Invitational

BOSTON, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University graduate student Kevin McBirney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added to his impressive indoor track & field season Saturday.

McBirney placed first in the 800-meter race at the River Hawk Invitational, hosted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell at The Track at New Balance.

McBirney was first in 1:51.82, just shy of the school record of 1:51.79 that he established last weekend at the John Thomas Terrier Classic hosted by Boston University.

Competing against runners from all divisions, McBirney was ahead of second-place Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (unattached), who finished in 1:52.04 and third-place Joshua Lesniak of the University of New Hampshire, whose time was 1:52.97.

In six meets during this indoor season, McBirney has finished first on four occasions and second another times.

He won the 800 at the Suffolk Relay, the 600 at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational and the 1,000 at the Gordon Kelly Invitational. McBirney was second in the 800 at the Mini-Meet held at BU.

BSU graduate student Landon Crowley (West Bridgewater, Mass.) finished ninth in the 200-meter open race with a season-best time of 22.29 seconds.

Bears junior Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.) was 13th in the 800 in a time of 1:55.95.

Placing 17th were senior Joshua Cardichon (Brockton, Mass.) in the 200 open with a time of 22.44 and also finishing 17th was senior Chris Beaulieu (Monson, Mass.) in the long jump invite (20'5.25"/6.23m).

Cardichon was also 24th in the 400 invite in 50.49 seconds.

Junior Matthew Mooney (Douglas, Mass.) was 21st out of 33 sprinters in the 200 invite with a season-best time of 22.14 seconds. Snior Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown, R.I.) finished 24th and first among Division III runners in the 3,000 as he crossed the line in a career-best time of 8:39.68.

Wheaton Invitational

NORTON, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University sophomore Jaime Corral (Gardner, Mass.) was a first-place finisher at the Wheaton College Invitational.

Corral placed first in the 200-meter run with a PR of 23.89 seconds, one of four Bears to finish in the top eight of the event at the Beard Field House Saturday.

Teammate Malachi Chansky (Millis, Mass.), a sophomore, was third in 24.07 seconds followed by Bears freshman Clayton Pastor Norales (New Bedford, Mass.), who was seventh in a PR of 24.18 seconds, and freshman Paulo Templeton (Ledyard, Conn.), who took eighth. Templeton equaled his PR of 24.29 seconds.

BSU had two second-place finishers at the meet, which included eight Division III teams.

Graduate student Chigozie Adigwe (Lowell, Mass.) was second in the 60-meter hurdles with a finals and season-best time of 8.34 seconds.

Senior Ryker King (Wareham, Mass.) was second in the pole vault with a career-best mark of 13 feet, 1.5 (4.00m), and also finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a finals time of 8.87 seconds. Kings posted a preliminary time of 8.76 seconds in the hurdles.

Finishing in third place for the Bears were freshman Tyler Amaral (Dartmouth, Mass.) and freshman Mason Veits (Tewksbury, Mass.). Amaral made his debut in the mile crossing the line in 4:47.72. Veits equaled his career-best mark of 11 feet, 7.75 inches (3.55m).

Others who placed in the top eight for BSU included junior Ryan McCarthy (Weymouth, Mass.), who was fifth in the pole vault (9'8"/2.95m); sophomore Alex Shute (Pembroke, Mass.), who took sixth in the 400 (54.89); and Chansky, who finished seventh in the long jump (19'6"/5.94m).

Also, sophomore Drew Alves (Taunton, Mass.) was seventh in the pole vault (9'2.25"/2.80m); junior Nicholas Rodden (Plymouth, Mass.) was eighth in the mile (4:54.29; and senior Javon Epps (Brockton, Mass.), who placed eighth in the finals of the 60-meter dash (7.25).

Bridgewater finished fifth in the team scoring at the meet with 45 points.

Up Next: The Bears will compete in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships on Sunday, Feb. 15 at Wheaton starting at 10 a.m.