BRUNSWICK, ME – The Saint Joseph's men's indoor track & field team, making its first official appearance in an event as a varsity program, placed fourth with 32 points in the Bowdoin College Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Senior Jack LaFreniere (Alton, N.H.) won a pair of events, including the first victory in the short history of the men's program.
LaFreniere captured the Monks' first win with a 51.11 time in the 400 meter dash, which was the eighth event of the afternoon. The senior barely edged Southern Maine's Jeremy Collins, who finished as the runner-up with a 51.54 performance. LaFreniere also won the 200 meter dash with a 22.95 effort.
Women's standout Amber Dostie (Standish, Maine) claimed the first victory in Saint Joseph's track and field program history with a 5:24.30 effort in the one mile run.
Faisal Abdillahi (Lewiston, Maine) tallied the Monks' third win of the day with a 2:01.52 effort in the 800 meter run, the 14th event of the afternoon. The junior's time was nearly six seconds faster than Bowdoin's Christian Sleeper, who finished as the runner-up with a 2:07.09 performance.
Bowdoin swept its hosted-event with top finishes by wide margins and tallied 181 points on the men's side. Southern Maine (87 pts), Bates College (63), Saint Joseph's (32) and Maine-Farmington (6) rounded out the field of participating institutions.
Several other individuals also performed well in the Monks' first event of the season. Connor Dufour (Augusta, Maine) finished third in the 600 meter run (1:30.74) while Andrew Caron (Gardiner, Maine) and Jeff Merrill (Fitchburg, Mass.) notched sixth-place efforts in the 600 meter run (1:43.16) and 800 meter (2:26.15), respectively. Eddie Donnell, Jr. (Gardiner, Maine) also finished sixth in the shot put with a 35-10.50 performance.
The Monks 4x400 relay squad collected four points after placing third with a 3:52.42 time.
Joe DiSalvo (Derry, N.H.), Taidghe Hagan (Reading, Mass.), Sam Dunay (Groton, Conn.), Billy Brooks (Cape Elizabeth, Maine), Jared Azulay (Reading, Mass.), Mark McCarraher (Franklin, Mass.), Matt Boucher (Augusta, Maine), Christopher LaSonde (Limington, Maine) and Robert Travers (Lebanon, Maine) also competed in the historic event for Saint Joseph's.
The Monks return to action on January 5th at University of Southern Maine.
Saint Joseph's College, founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy, celebrates its Centennial year in 2012 with a theme of "Realize the Promise" – honoring our commitment to educating well-rounded graduates who combine career focus with classic liberal arts studies. A Private, Catholic, primarily residential, coeducational liberal arts institution, Saint Joseph's welcomes students of all ages and all faiths. The campus, located 18 miles northwest of Portland and just two hours from Boston, encompasses 350 acres along the shore of beautiful Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine. Enrollment ranges between 1,000 and 1,100 students annually. Saint Joseph's offers challenging academic programs in the liberal arts and sciences, education, nursing and business fields in a value-centered environment.
