Indoor Track & Field Shines at Wesleyan Invitational

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - The Worcester State University men's and women's indoor track & field teams each won five events at Saturday's non-team scoring at the Wesleyan Invitational at the Bacon Field House.

The throwers on the men's team were dominant on the day, led by two first place finishes from senior Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.). Vieira had a heave of 18.10 meters to win the weight throw, while classmate Anthony Christo (Peabody, Mass.) finished in third place with a toss of 16.85 meters. In the shot put, the Lancers claimed four of the top six spots on the leaderboard, led by Vieira's first place throw of 15.32 meters. Junior Eddy Acuna (Newton, Mass.) finished in second with a throw of 14.93 meters, while Christo and freshman Dariel Canela (Peabody, Mass.) finished in fifth and sixth with throws of 12.95 and 12.73 meters, respectively.

In the pole vault, senior Scott Page (Winchendon, Mass.) was victorious on the day, eclipsing a height of 4.40 meters. In the jumping pits, senior Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.) finished in second place in the triple jump with a distance of 12.67 meters.

On the track, freshman Patrick Carleton (Tewksbury, Mass.) got a pair of wins on the day, in the mile run (4:36.92), and as the first leg of the 4x800 meter relay (8:43.89). Carleton's was one of three Lancers in the top-eight of the mile run, joined by fellow freshman Drew Fottler (Chelmsford, Mass.), who finished in fourth place with a time of 4:42.06, and senior Joe Grider (Hopedale, Mass.), who finished in seventh with a time of 4:47.46. The trio also comprised three of the four legs of the first-place winning relay team, joined by freshman Colin Brennan (Newbury, Mass.).

Worcester State had three in the top five of the men's 60 meter hurdles on Saturday, led by third place finisher Abdulrazak Frederick (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who crossed the line with a time of 8.86 seconds. Freshman Andre Luciano (Milford, Mass.) finished in fourth (8.98), while freshman Charles Bray (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was fifth (9.03). Luciano also had strong showings in the 60 meter dash with a fifth place finish (7.23) and the 200 meter dash with a sixth place finish (23.61). Junior Michael Butten (Marblehead, Mass.) finished eighth in the 200 meter dash just behind Luciano with a time of 24.08 seconds.

In the mid-distance races, the Lancers had a pair in the top seven of both the 400 and 800 meter runs. Junior Eddy Boamah (Worcester, Mass.) finished second in the 400 meter (51.33 seconds), while Frederick finished in seventh (53.55). A pair of Lancer newcomers finished in fifth and sixth place respectively in the 800 meter run, with sophomore Brian King (Stow, Mass.) running a time of 2:09.54 and sophomore Ben Ratick (New Paltz, N.Y.) running a time of 2:10.09.

On the women's side, sophomore Bernice Mensah (Worcester, Mass.) won a pair of events, both the triple jump (10.42 meters) and the 60 meter dash (8.06 seconds). The Lancers owned the podium in the 60 meter, with Abigail MacGregor (Salem, N.H.) finishing second with a time of 8.06 seconds, and Doreen Buabeng (Worcester, Mass.) finishing third with a time of 8.32 seconds. MacGregor also won the women's 200 meter dash with a sprint of 27.12 seconds.

Also winning her event on the day was sophomore Kyra Siano (North Attleboro, Mass.), who won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:38.91. Worcester State had a pair of runners top four in the 1,000 meter run as well, with freshman Ryann Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) finishing second with a time of 3:16.95. Right behind Molinari was junior Elisabeth Olson (Wilmington, Mass.), who finished in fourth with a run of 3:19.58.

In the 400 meter run, sophomore Amanda Turner (Windham, Maine) crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 1:04.02, while Brenda Thomas (Worcester, Mass.) finished in seventh, crossing the line in 1:04.86. Rounding out the top Lancer performances on Saturday was freshman Gail Provo (Woburn, Mass.), who eclipsed a height of 1.50 meters to finish in a tie for fourth in the high jump.

The Lancers will be back in action next weekend at Boston University for the annual BU Valentine Invitational.

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