Nkounkou Paces 'Cats to Runnerup Finish in Close Meet

Saturday, April 15

Durham, N.H.

11AM

University of New Hampshire

Wildcat Invitational

Joel Nkounkou won the hurdles and was second in the long jump. second in the long j

Joel Nkounko won the hurdles and was second in the long jump.

Photo by: John Yurka

4/16/2017 10:51:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

DURHAM, N.H. – Junior Joel Nkounkou (Dover, N.H.) won the 110 meter hurdles and finished in the top three in two other events to lead the University of New Hampshire men's track & field team to a second-place finish in a tight meet at the Reggie Atkins Track & Field Facility on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, sophomore James Hoerner (Manchester, N.H.) ran a personal best time of 4:10.58 in the mile to lead a group of Wildcats competing at the Ocean State Invitational at Providence College.

UNH came up just short of first place in the four-team home meet. Maine won the event with 196 points and UNH was a point behind with 195. Bates had 169 points and Merrimack College had 65.

Nkounkou won the 110 hurdles with a personal record time of 14.96 seconds. He finished second in the long jump and third in the high jump.

Junior Nicholas Ritzo (Rye, N.H.) was one of seven Wildcats to win events with a personal record of 52 feet, 4 inches to take the shot put. He also finished third in the discus.

UP NEXT

The Wildcats will compete at UMass Lowell on Saturday in a meet that also includes Vermont and Southern Connecticut.
UNH will host the America East outdoor track & field championships on May 6 and 7.

RESULTS

Other top UNH results from Saturday's meets.

At Providence:

Senior Jacob Kittredge (Amherst, N.H.) finished third in the 800. His time of 1:51.94 was .11 off his career best.
Sophomore William Ulrich (Mineola, N.Y.) ran a personal best time of 4:12.42 in the mile to finish 11^th.
Senior Brandon Allen (East Elmhurst, N.Y.) finished fifth in the 400 in 49.57 seconds.

At Durham:

Senior Andrew McFarland (Nazareth, Pa.) won the 400 meter hurdles in 55 seconds.
Senior Ryan Chiesa (Stockholm, N.J.) captured the steeplechase in a time of 9:33.30.
Freshman Peter Hegarty (Sanford, Maine) won the pole vault at 14 feet, 11 inches.
Freshman Mitchell Carter (Fall River, Mass.) was first in the triple jump at 42 feet, 4.75 inches, a personal best.
Sophomore Jon Chapman (Warwick, R.I.) won the hammer at 176 feet, 6 inches, eight feet farther than his previous best set the week before.
Sophomore Ryan Hanley (Hampton, N.H.) finished second in the 100 and third in the 200.
Junior Timothy Kenefick (Guilford, Conn.) was second in the 3000.
Sophomore Andrew Matteucci (Andover, Mass.) was second in the 110 hurdles.
Junior Alexander Tamulonis (Mason, N.H.) was second in the pole vault.
Freshman Zachary Astle (Newbury, N.H.) finished second in the shot put and fourth in the discus.