EASTON, Mass. – Junior David Cooper (Woburn/Woburn HS) and freshman Holt Sihvonen (Lebanon, Conn./Lyman Memorial HS) registered winning performances to help the Bentley University men's track and field team finish second in the Skyhawk Invitational Friday night at Stonehill College's W.B. Mason Stadium.
Sihvonen, a winner for the third straight week, led Bentley's domination in the javelin with a throw of 174'6". Senior Chris Ricci (Coventry, R.I./Bishop Hendricken HS) was right behind him in second (173'4") and junior Wes Dupray (Rowley/St. John's Prep) was fourth (158'2"). Also scoring, with a seventh-place finish and a throw of 154'7", was junior Joe Simonini (Revere/Revere HS). Ricci's throw tied him for fourth on the NE-10 performance list, one that Sihvonen is currently number two on.
Bentley had four of the top six in the 3000 with Cooper the first to finish with his 9:05.83 a PR by over nine seconds and good for ninth on Bentley's all-time list. Sophomore Eric Alatalo (Wilmington/ Wilmington HS) and freshman Seamus Higgins (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS) followed him across the line with times of 9:09.44 and 9:09.77 respectively. Alatalo bettered his PR by 3.43 seconds and Higgins improved on his by nearly 20 seconds.
Also scoring was freshman Ryan Cadorette (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy), who was sixth in 9:11.43.
In the discus, senior John Chiulli (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook HS) had a throw of 132'1" to place second and freshman Beau Kraft (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point HS) followed in third (131'2").
The 800 meters saw freshman Nick Skarin (Sunapee, N.H./Sunapee HS) (1:56.44) and senior Christian Connolly (Kingston/Silver Lake Regional HS) (1:56.65) take third and fourth, respectively.
Sophomore Nik Haas (Ramsey, N.J/Ramsey HS) was fourth among 36 runners in the 1500, finishing in 4:02.63. Another fourth was registered by junior Connor Hichens (Sharon/Sharon HS) with a distance of 42'2.75" in the triple jump.
Another highlight was senior Steve Maffiolini (Southington, Conn./Southington HS) fifth of 14 in the 400 (51.46).
Bentley totaled 122 points, a number exceeded only by the home team's 169. Bryant University followed in third with 95, and American International's 88 put the Yellow Jackets fourth.
This coming Friday and Saturday, Bentley will compete in the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Southern Connecticut State.
