SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Bridgewater State men's indoor track and field team competed at the non-scoring Massasoit Classic hosted by Springfield College on Saturday afternoon.
The Bears won seven events on the day, including five individual wins and two relays. The winning 4x400 meter relay team consisted of seniors Olivier Ndikumana (Amherst, Mass.) and Lamont Haynes (Boston, Mass.), junior John Lara (South Boston, Mass.), and freshman Joseph Madden Jr. (Milford, Mass.). The foursome posted a time of 3:32.11.
The other winning squad was the distance medley relay. Freshman Cameron Riley (Shrewsbury, Mass.), juniors Kester Kafeero (Peabody, Mass.) and Robert Moreau (Franklin, Mass.) and senior Joshua Higgins (Fitchburg, Mass.) took the top spot running a time of 11:13.52.
On the individual side, senior Trevor Wysong (Taunton, Mass.) made his season debut in the 5000-meter run outdistancing the field with a time of 15:12.96.
Also, winning on the track was sophomore Jadin Bruneau (Taunton, Mass.) who posted a time of 22.87 seconds to take the 200-meter dash. Bruneau also placed third in the 60-meter dash (7.13s) behind classmate Jake DeAndrade (Taunton Mass.) who placed second and ran a finals time of 7.06 seconds.
In the field events, Senior Nick Johnson (Marstons Mills, Mass.) won the weight throw with a toss of 53 feet 5.75 inches (16.32m). Fellow senior Spencer Geary (Marlborough, Mass.) had the top height in the pole vault jumping a lifetime-best 13 feet 1.5 inches (4.00m) and freshman Exondus Barnes (East Providence, R.I.) took the win in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 8.75 inches (6.62m)
Freshman Corey Stalters (Norton, Mass.) ran a personal best of 8.82 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles placing second. Junior Andrew Chen (Waltham, Mass.) made his season debut placing second in the high jump with a height of 6 feet 2.75 inches (1.90m). Ndikumana also added a fourth-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 43 feet 6.5 inches (13.27m).
Johnson (WT) and DeAndrade (60) each recorded qualifying marks or times for both the Division III New England Championships and the NEICAAA Championships.
Wysong, Stalters, Ndikumana, Chen, Bruneau, and Barnes all posted qualifying times or marks for DIII New Englands.
Next week the BSU track and field teams will compete at the Tufts Branwen Smith-King Invitational along with a few members heading to the NEICAAA championship held at the Reggie Lewis Center.