Owl Men Second at MASCAC Outdoor Track Championships

Westfield State first year Nathan Sylven (Wrentham, Mass.) won a pair of events to lead the Owls to a second place finish in the 2024 MASCAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Jerry Gravel Track and Alumni Field in Westfield on Friday.

Bridgewater State claimed the meet title with 269 points, outdistancing the Owls in second with 174.  Fitchburg (97) Worcester State (59) and Mass Maritime (11) rounded out the team scoring.

In the men's steeplechase, Westfield scored first and second with Sylven (10:09.56) and John Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.)  (10:32.59) running 1-2, while Fox Guajardo (Attleboro, Mass.) added fifth place points as well with a time of 11:20.24.

After the fast start to the meet, Sylven broke for the lead at the gun in the 5000 late in the day and was never challenged, covering the loop in 16:06.17 for a 16-second win over Bridgewater's Kenneth Goodwin. Westfield rounded out the scoring spots with Abdi Nassir (New Braintree, Mass.), Will Buckley (Plymouth, Mass.), Jarrod Ledvina (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Tyler Meunier (Gardner, Mass.) each picking up points for third through sixth place.

Sylven mixed in a third-place finish in the 1500 with a time of 4:14.35.

Casey Tang (Cambridge, Mass.) picked up first place points with a walkover in the men's pole vault with a mark of 2.65 meters. Tang was the only competitor in the event at this year's championship.

Westfield also got strong performances from Colby Ranck (Chicopee, Mass.) who placed third in the long jump with a mark of 6.61 meters, and Danny Shea (Longmeadow, Mass.) added two more points with a fifth place finish and a PR of 6.44 meters.

Ranck added a second-place result in the triple jump at 13.02 meters.  The Owls tacked on extra points with Michael Pelletier (Wilbraham, Mass.) in fourth and Ali Warsame (Chelsea, Mass.) in fifth.

Dylan Clark (Bellows Falls, Vt.) took third place in the shot put with a season-best mark of 13.04 meters, and took fourth place honors in the javelin with a top toss of 48.86 meters.

Gordon Johnson (Hanson, Mass.) took second in the 800 meters in 2:01.33, with Rowan Gottshall (West Simsbury, Conn.) on his heels in third. Lorcan Bergeron (Medway, Mass.) added two points to the Owls total with a fifth place result.

Westfield will next have qualified athletes compete at the New England Division III championship meet at Mount Holyoke College on May 3 and 4.