WESTON, Mass. – Suffolk men's outdoor track & field saw eight Rams post personal-best and eight other student-athletes compete in an event for the first time in their outdoor careers en route to a fourth-place performance at the Regis Spring Classic Friday.
The fourth-place finish came behind a team score of 55 points to land behind the host Regis (109), as well as Mass. Maritime (106) and Lasell (10), who rounded out the podium.
There was a quartet of Rams in the 200. Half clocked a personal-best in the event, sophomores Turner Mitchell and John Avakian, while the other pair, freshmen Joshua Durand and Jason Motta, ran a half lap for the first time in their careers. Mitchell sealed fifth place in the 25-runner field behind a time of 24.58 with Avakian (24.79), Durand (24.83) and Motta (24.88) taking eighth through 11th, respectively.
Sophomore Nico Miele made his collegiate outdoor in the 800 and was joined by Joseph Robinson, who ran the track for the first time in his senior outdoor season. Miele slid into eighth in the bakers' dozen runner field with a time of 2:10.22. Robinson made two trips around the track in 2:21.97 to grab 12th.
The underclassmen trio of Shea Duffy, Ben Berman and Thomas Fidrocki represented the Rams in long-distance, the 1500, and all ran the even for the first time in their outdoor career. Duffy had a sub-5:00.0 showing with a time of 4:49.58, good for fourth. Berman (5:10.74) was two spots behind him in sixth and Fidrocki (5:15.01) was two places behind that in eighth.
Brady Sorenson made his outdoor jumping debut. The sophomore topped the long jump field with a leap of 6.77, which sits seventh in New England this season.
Suffolk concentrated on the fielding events in Weston, Massachusetts, and it showed with sixth of the Rams' eight personal records achieved in the field.
Michael Balestra anchored the blue-and-gold's four representatives in the hammer throw. The senior's 46.99-meter toss topped the eight-participant field. Frank Irizarry joined Balestra on the podium in third with a personal-best throw of 35.95. Matthew Smith and Michael Power finished right after Irziarry in fourth and fifth, respectively. Both Smith (35.40) and Powers (31.75) logged personal-records to round out the top five.
Smith had a standout showing in the discus as well. He secured a personal-best of 36.37 to take second. Eddie McCarthy competed in the event for the first time in his career and placed eighth with a 28.74-meter throw.
McCarthy competed in the shotput as well. He landed just outside the top three in fourth with a career-high 11.19-meter throw. Power was featured in the 16-competitor event and grabbed 10th on a 9.94-meter toss.
Edward Abouzeid and Smith rounded out the Rams in the javelin. Abouzeid upstaged his performance a week ago at the Tufts Snowflake Classic that was good enough to grab CCC Field Rookie of the Week with a personal-best toss of 45.55 that landed the sophomore in fourth in the 16-competitor field. Smith secured 11th with a 31.89-meter heave.
Suffolk will be back in action tomorrow, Saturday, April 10 at the Gordon Invitational.
