Bentley 4x800 Relay Places 2nd in Northeast-10 Championships
MANCHESTER, N.H. – In the final event of day one of the Northeast-10 Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Bentley University Falcons ran to a second place finish in the 4x800 meter relay. The 7:48.70 was just 0.20 back of Franklin Pierce University's winning time.
Junior Matthew Chicko (North Andover, Mass./North Andover HS) ran the opening leg and the handoffs went to senior Brice Tolan (Abington, Mass./Abington HS), freshman Ryan Orr (Stonington, Conn./Stonington HS) and senior Jack Deehan (Westwood, Mass./Westwood HS).
Bentley's highest day one individual finish came in the javelin with freshman Parker Rush (Rumford, R.I./LaSalle Academy) uncorking a throw of 174 feet, 11 inches, more than five feet better than his previous best.
Junior Cole Dubal (Tolland, Mass./Mount Everett HS) was fifth of 18 in the 10,000 with his 31:52.25 the fastest by a Falcon in six years. He shaved about two minutes off his previous career best and climbed to number nine on Bentley's all-time list.
Tolan, in addition to his performance in the relay, was eighth in the 1500 meters. He finished in 4:04.89, which bettered his PR by 13.82 seconds.
Three Falcons qualified for Saturday's finals: Deehan in the 800 and both sophomore Alex Lawes (Brick, N.J./Brick Township HS) and junior Evan Bean (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa HS)) in the 400 hurdles. Lawes had the fifth best qualifying time (56.42) and Bean the eighth best (57.47). Deehan was eighth of 22 in the 800 prelims, finishing in 1:57.64.
For the second time in a week, freshman Casey O'Connor (North Reading, Mass./North Reading HS) broke the school record in the hammer with his throw of 142 feet, eight inches bettering the mark he set last weekend at Stonehill by more than seven feet.
Other Falcons who placed ninth and just missed scoring were freshman Daimein Garcia (Providence, R.I./St. George's School) in the javelin (158'5") and sophomore Isaiah Decias (Ozone Park,N.Y./Hudson Catholic HS) in the 100 (11.17). Decias' time was a PR and good for tenth on Bentley's all-time list.
Chicko was 11th in the 800 with his 1:54.94 just three-tenths of a second off Deehan's performance and a PR by 0.09 seconds.
With the strong showing in the 4x800, Bentley finished day one in sixth place with 18 points.
The championships continue on Saturday with field events getting underway at 10 am and track starting at 12:30. All the action will be streamed on NE10 NOW.