BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's track & field team captured its second straight conference indoor title and fourth in the last seven years on Saturday at the 2019 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Plymouth State University.
Bridgewater State amassed 205 team points as they outdistanced second place Westfield State University (169 pts.). Worcester State University placed third with 150 points, while Fitchburg State University (56 pts.) finished fourth.
Six different Bears captured individual MASCAC titles as well as the 4x400-meter relay squad, while junior Nick Johnson (Marstons Mills, Mass.) broke his own school record in the weight throw.
Juniors Lamont Haynes (Boston, Mass.) and Joshua Higgins (Fitchburg, Mass.), sophomore John Lara (South Boston, Mass.) and freshman Jacob DeAndrade (Taunton, Mass.) won the 4x400-meter relay with a MASCAC meet record time of 3:24.96. The quartet eclipsed the previous MASCAC mark of 3:25.56 set by former Bears Brian Espinosa, Josh Goehring, Chris Naughton and Kevin Sawyer in 2015.
Haynes also won the MASCAC championship in the 400-meter dash in a time of 50.67 seconds, while Higgins placed first in the 600-meter run (1:23.21) and Lara garnered top honors on the 800-meter run (2:04.06).
Senior Joseph Keough (Walpole, Mass.) was the first MASCAC runner to cross the finish line in the 1,000-meter run as he posted a time of 2:37.57.
Sophomore Joshua Moore (Cape May, N.J.) and freshman Matthew Lighten (Dalton, Mass.) rounded out the Bears' MASCAC champions. Moore won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, one inch (6.73m), while Lighten placed first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.58 seconds.
Johnson placed second in the weight throw with a toss of 55 feet, 9.25 inches (17.00m) as he eclipsed his previous school mark of 55 feet, 1.5 inches (16.80m) set last weekend at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
Next weekend, qualifying members of the BSU men's indoor track & field team will compete at the Division III New England Championships hosted by MIT.
Notes: The Bears also captured the MASCAC indoor championship in 2013, 2015 and 2018.