Stonehill Sports Wrap: Track Teams Impress at Tufts Stampede

This week, the track teams put together one of their best performances of the season. The men’s basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped and the women’s basketball team bounced back. The hockey team is still alive in the race for the playoffs.

With that here is your latest Stonehill update.

Track and Field

Both track teams put in a solid overall performance this past weekend in the Tufts Stampede in Medford. The nationally ranked men’s squad (No. 17 in this week's U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association Rankings) won seven events – including the 4x800 relay race – while the women finished in the top five in 12 events and also captured the 4x800 relay’s.

Individually, sophomore Corey Thomas continued to shine as he became a double-winner for the third straight week when he finished first in the high-jump (6-feet, 7-inches) and 60-meter hurdles (8.17 seconds) this past Saturday. Meanwhile, senior Nathan Morse broke the school record when he placed first in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:22.07 and qualified for the New England Championships that will be held on February 26.

Other men's winners (all sophomores) include Ethan Penny in the 5000-meter (15:16.59), Sean Hanlon in the 1000-meter (2:32.48) and Tim Johnson in the 3000-meter (8:56.20).

On the other side, junior Maura Ferrani and sophomore Katie Bernazzani led the way for the Stonehill women. Ferrani captured first place in the mile with a time of 5:16.39 – her best performance in the event so far this year – while Bernazzani finished first in the 60m hurdles with her time of 9.52 seconds and beat fellow teammate Katie Polakowski by 0.04 seconds in the event.

Other notable performances included performances from freshmen Jill Alves in the mile (second, 5:19.30) and Meghan Olin’s school record accomplishment in the pole vault (fourth 8-feet .05-inches).

Men’s Basketball

Tuesday, the Skyhawks had their five-game winning streak snapped when Northeast-10 conference rival Merrimack pulled off a 54-50 upset at the Merkert Gymnasium. Despite a 14-point effort from junior forward Patrick Lee, the team had one of its worst shooting performances of the season, shooting less than 30 percent from the field on 16-of-55 shooting and only 60 percent from the free throw line (15-25).

With the loss, Stonehill fell to 18-5 overall and 13-5 in the Northeast 10 It trails first place Bentley by one game (16-6 overall, 14-4 conference)

Head coach David McLaughlin and company will look to bounce back this weekend when they travel to Saint Michael’s College – the second game in the men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader up in Vermont.

Women’s Basketball

Coming off two straight losses against Franklin Pierce and UMass-Lowell, the Stonehill women’s team bounced back as senior guard Kristen McWhriter’s 21-point effort led the Skyhawks to a 76-61 victory over Merrimack last night.

The Skyhawks dominated the boards as they outrebounded the Warriors by 17, 48-31. Freshman guard Mary Louise Dixon and fellow classmate Asia Ewing were the leading rebounds with 11 and 10 boards, respectively.

Junior point guard Cori O’Kane led all players with her 11 assists.

With the win, the women improve to 15-8 overall and sit in seventh place in the Northeast-10 standings at 10-8.

The Skyhawks return to the floor on Saturday when they travel to St. Michael’s for the first game of the men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader at 1:30 p.m.

Ice Hockey

Despite its 4-14-1 overall mark and 2-4-1 conference record after a heartbreaking loss to Salve Regina last night, the ice hockey team still finds itself in fifth place in the Northeast-10 standings.

This week, the team will take part in the “Pink the Rink” event when they host Southern New Hampshire on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. at the Foxborough Sports Center. Admission is free for anyone who wears pink to the game.