Men's Track & Field Captures Eighth Straight MASCAC Outdoor Title

By Jim Fenton

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- The championship streak remains alive for the Bridgewater State University men's outdoor track & field team.

The Bears made it eight consecutive Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference titles in the spring on Saturday.

BSU had five individual winners with seven second-place finishers in addition to placing first in two relay races.

The Bears had 221 points to finish ahead of host Fitchburg State (179) at the Elliot Field Athletic Complex.

BSU, which has also won six straight indoor MASCAC titles, now has 11 outdoor conference championships.

Winning events and earning MASCAC individual titles for the Bears were seniors Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown,R.I.) and Ryker King (Wareham, Mass.), juniors Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.) and Matthew Mooney (Douglas, Mass.) and sophomore Drew Alves (Taunton, Mass.) as well as both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays.

Ackroyd was the winner in the 10,000-meter race with a time of 31:58.11 for 10 points.

King took the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.18 seconds, leading a BSU sweep of the top three. King was also third in the 400 hurdles in 1:00.02.

Fournier won the 800 race in 1:56.41 and was also second in the 1,500 in 4:08.59.

Mooney came in first in the 200 in 22.05 seconds and was second in the 100 in 10.91 seconds.

Alves prevailed in the pole vault with a personal-best height of 12 feet, 1.5 inches (3.70m). He was also second in the 110 hurdles in a PR of 16.30 seconds and was tied for third in the high jump (5'10.75"/1.80m).

The Bears won the 4x100 and 4x400 relay races in 42.58 and 3:22.27, respectively. The 4x100 squad featured graduate student Landon Crowley (West Bridgewater, Mass.), senior Dasean Peters-Wolfe (Mansfield, Mass.), Mooney and junior Zachary Feist (Stoughton, Mass.), while senior Chris Beaulieu (Monson, Mass.), senior Nicholas Grace (Acushnet, Mass.), King and Fournier ran the 4x400.

Finishing second for the Bears in addition to Fournier, Mooney and Alves were freshman Clayton Pastor Norales (New Bedford, Mass.), sophomore Joshua Cardichon (Brockton, Mass.), Peters-Wolfe and freshman Tyler Amaral (Dartmouth, Mass.).

Pastor Norales had a leap of 21 feet, 9.5 inches (6.64m) in the long jump while Cardichon ran the 400 in a PR of 49.99 seconds and was also fifth in the 200 (22.62).

Peters-Wolfe was behind Mooney in the 200 in 22.28 seconds while Amaral finished the 5,000 in 15:47.93.

Crowley was third in the 100 (10.98) and fourth in the 200 (22.45).

Freshman Evan Young (Winchendon, Mass.) was third in the 110 hurdles (16.52m) and fourth in the 400 hurdles (1:00.30) as he recorded personal-best times in both events. Junior Brian Vale (Assonet, Mass.) finished third in the 800 (2:00.00).

Senior Mitchell Parent (Cumberland Center, Maine) took third in the 5,000 (16:20.36) and fourth in the 1,500 (4:13.64) while Bealieu finished fourth in the 400 (51.24). Parent's time in the 1,500 was a personal-best.

Freshman Jacob Anuszczyk (South Dartmouth, Mass.) notched a fourth-place performance in the 5,000 with a PR of 16:52.11, and junior Ryan McCarthy (Weymouth, Mass.) was fourth in the pole vault with a personal-best mark of ten feet, two inches (3.10m).

Fourth place finishers in the throwing events were freshman Jayvon Lodge (Brockton, Mass.) in the shot put (43'5.75"/13.25m), freshman Christopher Williams (Burlington, Mass.) in the discus (124'/37.81m), senior Colin Daly (South Easton, Mass.) in the hammer (142'7"/43.47m) and junior Kaelan McDonald (Washington, Conn.) in the javelin (157'11"/48.13m).

BSU will take part in the Division III New England Championships on Friday and Saturday at Springfield College.