ATHERTON, VARCA PACE SAINTS AT USM INVITATIONAL

GORHAM, Maine – Sophomore sprinter Cameron Atherton (Rowley, Mass.) set a new school record in the 55m race and junior Nicole Varca (Wethersfield, Conn.) qualified for the New England Division III Championships to lead the Emmanuel College indoor track & field squads Saturday afternoon at the University of Southern Maine Invitational.

Atherton sprinted to a fifth place finish in the 55m race, clocking in at a school-record 6.81 seconds. Junior Francisco Tavares (Boston, Mass.) was just behind him in eighth place with a time of 6.86 seconds and also ran well in the 400m race, finishing second overall with a time of 52.48 seconds. Sophomore Jordyn Gonsor (Springfield, Mass.) ran well again in the 400m race with a third place finish of 63.75 on the women's side.

Varca qualified for the New England D-III Championships with a third place finish in the 600m race, coming in at 1:43.98, a new PR. The Saints also had freshman Jacquelyn Schneider (Weymouth, Mass.) finish fifth in the same race, posting a time of 1:51.90. On the men's side, sophomore Jefferson Zannoni (Merrimack, N.H.) and freshman Philipp Malm (Worcester, Mass.) collected new PR's in the 600m race with times of 1:32.59 and 1:33.44, respectively, to come in fifth and sixth place in the event.

Both Atherton and Varca posted PR's in the 200m event later in the day as Varca ran the race in 30.08 while Atherton finished fifth with a PR time of 24.26. Senior Micaela Fraccalossi (Plymouth, Mass.) was the top EC female finisher in the 200m with a seventh place time of 29.01 seconds.

Freshman distance runner Noah Chagnon (St. Albans, Vt.) finished third overall in the 5K race with a PR time of 17:20.44. Senior Ian Chamenko (Beacon Falls, Conn.) ran well in the one mile race with a third place finish of 4:36.99 while freshman Patrick Carty (Sweeden, Maine) finished sixth in the mile with a personal record time of 4:45.03. Also posting a PR was classmate Erik Brobst (Freeport, Maine) with a time of 4:49.56.

In the 1000m men's race, Justin Scott (Woburn, Mass.) posted a PR time of 3:02.68 for a fifth place finish while sophomore Brandon Fitzpatrick Tewksbury, Mass.) raced to a 3:15.71 time, also good for a new PR.

Both the men's and women's 4x400 m rely teams finished fourth as the women clocked in at 4:21.72, bettering their New England Division III Championship qualifying time while the men also finished fourth with a time of 3:47.80.

Senior jumper Ashley Brooks (Danvers, Mass.) finished second overall in the high jump with a leap of 5'0.25", bettering her NE D-III qualifying leap as well.

In other field events, senior Mellyn Costello (Canton, Mass.) and Fraccalossi finished sixth and seventh in the long jump with leaps of 15'9.50" and 15'5.50", respectively, with Fraccolossi posting a new PR with her jump.

In the shot put, senior Cameron Anderson (Watertown, Mass.) finished second with a throw of 40'5.50" while junior Constantino Politis (Saugus, Mass.) finished seventh with a toss of 34'3.50". On the women's side, freshman Shannon Donahue (Manchester, N.H.) finished eighth with a throw of 26'9.25".

At the end of the day, the Saints racked up 100 total points, finishing a combined fourth overall in the meet as the men's squad came in fourth with 59 points and the women placed fifth with 41 points.

The Saints return to action next weekend in Middletown, Conn. at the Wesleyan Indoor Invitational on Saturday, February 4.