BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Junior Michael McPherson (Mansfield, Mass.) eclipsed a pair of school throwing records to lead the Bridgewater State University men's outdoor track and field team at the non-scoring, season-opening BSU Bears Invitational on Saturday at Swenson Field.
McPherson broke the BSU outdoor marks in both the shot put and the hammer throw while also placing first and qualifying for three postseason meets (DIII New Englands, ECAC & NEICAAA) in each event. He posted a distance of 52 feet, 0.5 inches (15.86 meters) in the shot put to better the previous school standard of 49 feet, 5.5 inches set by Tom Hilse in 1980. McPherson tossed the hammer 170 feet, 8.0 inches (52.02 meters) to knock off Dave Mackiewicz's 2001 record of 166 feet, 3.0 inches.
Sophomore Matt Horan (Billerica, Mass.), freshman Josh Goehring (Haverhill, Mass.), junior Stephen Wahome (Lowell, Mass.) and senior Matt Chatham (Charlton, Mass.) added individual first place finishes for the Bears. Horan recorded a time of 15.04 seconds to win the 110-meter hurdles and to qualify for the three postseason meets. Goehring took top honors in the 800-meter run (1:58.22), while Wahome and Chatham did the same in the 1,500 meter run (4:09.46) and pole vault (10'8.0"), respectively.
Wahome also finished second in the 5,000-meter run with a DIII New England qualifying time of 15:21.66.
Sophomore Joshua Danner-Hicks (Haverhill, Mass.) posted a time of 11.25 seconds to place fourth in the 100-meter dash, while junior Felix Mensah (Lowell, Mass.) finished fifth with a time of 11.38 seconds. Both sprinters qualified for DIII New Englands in the event, while Danner-Hicks also qualified in the triple jump (44'0.5") as he placed second at the meet.
Junior Cedric Lamour (Brockton, Mass.) qualified for DIII New Englands in both the 110-meter hurdles (16.24) and the triple jump (42'11.75"). Lamour grabbed third place in the triple jump and fourth in the hurdles.
In upcoming action, the Bears will compete in the Tufts Invitational on Saturday, March 31st.