By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men’s indoor track and field team pulled off a rare accomplishment last weekend.

The Bears became just the second program to win at least three straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championships during the winter season, joining Westfield State University.

BSU continued its title run in Northampton, dominating the meet with 246 points. Westfield State was a distant second with 168 points.

The Bears had first-place finishers in 12 of the 19 events and won the MASCAC crown for the fifth time in eight years. Westfield State had won the first six titles from 2007-12.

“It’s a pretty good group,” said BSU coach Connor Foley. “I think we’ve improved from last year. We only graduated a handful of point scorers from last year, so the team this year had the opportunity to learn last year and get their feet wet a little bit.

“Now they’ve grown and matured and really built on their experience they had previously. We’re still relatively young and we’re getting a lot of contributions top to bottom, which is nice to see.”

Foley, a 2015 BSU graduate, is the cross country plus indoor and outdoor coach for the men’s and women’s programs at his alma mater. The 2018 title was won with T.J. Smith, who is now at Middleboro High School, as the head coach.

The Bears lost five athletes to graduation last year, so the numerous returners were anxious to add another title to their portfolio.

“They’ve been saying since day one that winning the conference title and staying on top is one of their big goals,” said Foley. “Now we have our eyes set on the (New England) Division 3 championship in two weeks (at Springfield).

“This is kind of a checkbox to make sure we take care of business and defend the title here and now we’re going to try to get as many men qualified for the next meet as we can and try to make a run and be competitive in that one as well.”

Sophomore Matthew Lighten had an impressive showing at the MASCAC Championships, breaking the meet record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.94.

That ranks No. 1 nationally in Division 3 this season and will send Lighten to the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, on March 13-14. Lighten broke the previous record of 22.01 seconds set 20 years ago by Stanley Egbor of Worcester State.

“The biggest thing is he’s healthy this year,” said Foley. “Last year, he was dealing with injuries pretty much throughout the entire indoor season and raced only a couple of times. He’s been healthy pretty consistently this year, especially since we got back from winter break.

“Just being able to train consistently and train at the right time has been huge for him. He’s been working real hard to make sure he stays on top to being healthy, so he deserves major credit for the work he’s put in.

“We knew coming out of high school (Wahconah Regional) that he had a ton of potential. He did very well at the state meets and flew under the radar. The sky’s the limit for him.”

The other individual winners included Joshua Higgins (mile and 600), Jacob DeAndrade (60-meter dash), Lamont Haynes (400), Joseph Zingarelli (school record in the pole vault), freshman Joseph Madden Jr. (800), Trevor Wysong (mile), Mike Hutchinson (3,000) and Nick Johnson (weight throw).

DeAndrade, Johnson and Higgins are in contention to qualify for the NCAAs with a pair of meets remaining before the competitors are chosen.

The 4x200 relay team of Lighten, DeAndrade, Haynes and Jadin Bruneau (school and MASCAC records) and the 4x400 team of Haynes, Higgins, Olivier Ndikumana and John Lara also won.

In addition to the three straight indoor titles, the Bears have won the last two MASCAC outdoor championships. BSU will be a threat to three-peat in the spring as well after wrapping up three in a row in the winter.

“It’s always very competitive within our league going against quality competition,” said Foley. “Westfield’s always deep and Worcester’s a quality team and Fitchburg as well. It’s always tough to maintain that hunger for the entire team. But they enjoy the opportunity to compete. They like winning.”