Fournier Earns All-New England Honors at DIII New Englands

By Jim Fenton

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Junior Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.) turned in an All-New England performance for the Bridgewater State University men's outdoor track & field team.

Fournier finished third in the 800-meter race at the Division III New England Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon at the Blake Track.

With a time of 1:54.43, Fournier earned six points for the Bears and became the team's second All-New England performer.

On Friday, freshman Clayton Pastor Norales (New Bedford, Mass.) was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 11.25 (6.99m) inches to receive five points for BSU.

The Bears' 4x400 relay team also received All-New England honors with a fourth-place finish in 3:20.45.

BSU wound up with 16 points and tied for 16th place with Coast Guard.

Fournier was behind only Saint Joseph's of Maine junior Haytham Ramadan (1:52.51) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute senior Thomas Skerry (1:54.22).

Earlier this season, Fournier was first in the 800 (1:56.41) and second in the 1,500 (4:08.59) at the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships and won the 800 at the BSU Bears Invitational with a time of 1:54.79.

The BSU 4x800 relay team just missed All-New England honors, placing ninth in 8:09.92.

Six other BSU individual athletes and two relay teams competed Saturday at the New England meet, held on the campus of Springfield College.

In the 200-meter race, graduate student Landon Crowley (West Bridgewater, Mass.) finished 11th in 22.58 while senior Dasean Peters-Wolfe (Mansfield, Mass.) was 12th in 22.65 and junior Matthew Mooney (Douglas, Mass.) placed 17th in 22.75 seconds.

Freshman Sean Venator (Manchester, N.H.) finished 16th in the 400 with a time of 50.60 while teammate Joshua Cardichon (Brockton, Mass.), a sophomore, was 17th in 50.89.

Freshman Christopher Williams (Burlington, Mass.) finished 24th in the shot put with a heave of 40 feet, 5 1/2 inches (12.33m).

BSU will be at Stonehill College on Friday and Saturday for the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association meet, featuring all three divisions.