FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOSTON – At the inaugural Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday afternoon at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center, the Suffolk University men and Emmanuel College women (pictured) captured the first-ever GNAC team titles.
Each event winner earned gold medals and receives 2020 GNAC All-Conference recognition.
For Suffolk, the Rams men had a down-to-the-wire finish. With one event left on the schedule, the Distance Medley Relay, Suffolk clung to a one-point, first-place lead ahead of Saint Joseph's (Maine). The Monks managed to build a 10-plus second advantage over the first three legs – 1200, 400 and 800 – before Matyas Csiki-Fejer took over the baton for the Rams in the mile. Slowly, but surely the sophomore caught up to the Monks' Troy Hendricks before passing his competition in the seventh of eight laps. From there, Csiki-Fejer gained momentum, finished 5.07 seconds ahead of SJC's student-athlete to seal the deal for the blue-and-gold. Hunter Toyoda, Cole Bolduc and Justin Turner were a part of the conference clinching relay team.
Behind Suffolk's Medley Relay performance, the Rams edged the Monks off the top of the podium by three points, 119-116. Emmanuel finished third with 80 points with Regis (61), Lasell (48) and Colby Sawyer (40) rounding out the league's inaugural field.
The Rams initially grabbed the league in the team standings thanks to its 4x400 relay team of Connor Baston, Joshua Smith, Robert Solari and Connor Abbotoni. The underclassmen foursome of three freshmen and one sophomore combined for a 3:32.46 to take the event.
Individually four Rams became conference champion across six events with 18 posting personal-events.
Csiki-Fejer and Solari each garnered a pair of individual conference champion honors to go with all-league status and were an ingredient to a winning relay squad.
Solari started the day with a second-place, personal-best 6.18-meter performance in the long jump. From there, he won the high jump, clearing 1.75 meters, and 400, running around the track in a career-high 50.98. Solari was joined in the 400 by Abbotoni who took the third spot on the stage behind a time of 51.19, Smith (52.88) and Ben Cvitkusic (1:00.11). Smith's time of 52.88 was a personal-best for the Rams' rookie.
Csiki-Fejer, meanwhile, had his pair of victories in distance events, capturing the mile in 4:27.37 and clocking a 9:10.98 3000.
Toyoda and Keoni Geers logged career-highs in each event alongside Csiki-Fejer. Toyoda ran the mile in 4:42.25 and produced a 9.31.78 3K to finish seventh in both. Geers took 11th in each after producing a 4:50.39 mile and 10:06.49 3000.
Turner (4:42.68) and Joseph Robinson (5:06.54) also competed in the mile, placing 10th and 15th, respectively.
Baston best the 200, 16-runner field. His half trip around the track came in a career-high 22.97 to take home the conference title. He was one spot shy of the stage in the 60-meter dash with a personal-best time of 7.29. The rookie participated in the long jump as well where he leaped 5.87 meters for seventh.
Abbotoni was in the 200 as well and claimed fifth with a 23.48 performance.
Michael Balestra was the only Suffolk field athlete to earn league champion status. The sophomore sunk a 15.45-meter weight throw toss to take the title.
Matt Sambucetti, Frank Irizarry and Michael Power competed in the pair of field events. Sambuceti and Power had personal-bests in both. Sambucetti took fourth in the weight throw with a 12.40 toss and eighth in the shot put behind an 11.82 throw. Power, meanwhile, produced an eighth-place finish in the weight throw (10.61) and a 10th-place showing in the shot put (10.65). Irizzary claimed seventh in the weight throw (11.22) and 15th in the shot put (9.66).
More career-high performances came in the 60-meter hurdles. Tristan Smith locked up fourth thanks to a time of 10.09, while Irizzary grabbed sixth thanks to a 10.72 time.
Bolduc earned points for the Rams in 800 with a 2:03.51 time, good for second. Turner was also in the field, and finished ninth thanks to a time of 2:10.30.
As for the Emmanuel women, the championship win is the first of the academic calendar year for any Emmanuel College athletic program. The Saints captured six individual events and two relay events during the GNAC Championship to earn a team score of 174 on the afternoon, finishing 60 points ahead of Suffolk University who finished in second place with 114 points.
Junior Amanda Jordan (Stoneham, Mass.) posted three first place finishes, earning the title in the high jump with a leap of 1.56m, the long jump (4.97m) and the triple jump (10.69m).
Sophomore Kennedy Davignon (Woodstock, Conn.) earned the win in the 200m event, finishing just ahead of first year teammate Cara Martin (Wrentham, Mass.) for a 1-2 combo with times of 27.25 and 27.41 seconds. Davignon also finished third in the 400m race with a time of 1:02.68.
Sophomore Lauren Sterling (Rumford, Maine) earned the GNAC individual championship honors taking home first place in the 60m hurdle with a time of 9.91 seconds, finishing ahead of teammates Jackie Schneider and Jordan who swept the top three spots in the event field.
Sophomore Caileigh Blackmer (Warwick, R.I) rounded out the Saints individual champions, placing first overall in the weight throw with a toss of 12.32m.
In the relay events, Davignon teamed up with sophomore Haley Boisvert (Merrimack, N.H.), Jordan, and Schneider to capture the win in the 4x400m relay with a time of 4:17.66
In the Distance Medley Relay, sophomore Nicole Ruggiero (Peabody, Mass.), first year Victoria Krzysztopik (Orange, Conn.), sophomore Deanna Ruggiero (Peabody, Mass.), and first year Molly Winship (Boxford, Mass.) teamed up for the victory with a time of 13:44.96, just two seconds off the EC school record.
Sophomore Hannah Fitzpatrick (Revere, Mass.) ran well on the day, placing third in both the 800m and 1mile run.
Courtesy of Suffolk & Emmanuel Athletics Communications.
