Sevilla-Connelly Wins Steeplechase on Day 1 of AE Championships

Saturday, May 1

Lowell, Mass.

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Outdoor Championships

Results Championship Central

Photo by: Bob Ellis

5/1/2021 7:59:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

LOWELL, Mass. – Grad student Nicolas Sevilla-Connelly (Chester, N.H.) won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title to highlight the University of New Hampshire men's track & field results in Day 1 of the America East Championships at UMass Lowell's Cushing Field Complex.

The Wildcats also recorded a pair of runner-up performances with grad student Zachary Astle (Newbury, N.H.) placing second in the hammer and junior Nate Hobbs (Peabody, Mass.) finishing second in the long jump.

UNH is in second place with 39 points. Only the host school, with 41 points, sits ahead of the Wildcats. The University of Maine (33 points), Binghamton University (26) and Stony Brook University (21) round out the Top 5.

CLICK HERE for complete results.

The conference championship meet concludes May 2 at Cushing Field Complex; the decathlon events begin the day both on the track (9 a.m.) and in the field (9:30 a.m.).

STEEPLECHASE
UNH earned 15 points in the steeplechase. Sevilla-Connelly continued his dominance in the event, which he won twice previously this season. He earned 10 team points with his season-best winning time of 8 minutes, 49.5 seconds. Senior Aidan Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) crossed the finish line in 9:08.47 to earn fourth place and five team points.

HAMMER
New Hampshire had three of the top eight performers in the hammer to record 12 points in the event. Astle led the Wildcats and was second overall with a throw of 187 feet, 6 inches; he moved from third to second with that mark in the fourth of six rounds and gave the 'Cats eight points with that runner-up finish.

Junior Patrick Brogioli (Milford, Mass.) took fifth place and earned three team points with a mark of 168-1. Classmate Jacob Dearborn (Wolfeboro, N.H.) recorded a throw of 162-3 to take eighth place and one team point.

LONG JUMP
Hobbs placed second in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 7.25 inches to record eight team points. He recorded that mark on his first attempt and matched it in round five.

JAVELIN
Junior John King Jr. (Derry, N.H.) earned four points with his fifth-place effort of 183 feet, 9 inches in the javelin.

DECATHLON
In the decathlon, the competitors completed the 100m dash, 400m, long jump, shot put and high jump. Freshman Andrew Kelly (Portsmouth, N.H.) is in seventh place with 3,047 points and is followed by junior Brian Genet (Merrimack, N.H.) with 3,038 points. The remaining five events will be completed Sunday.

PRELIMINARIES
The remainder of the track events were preliminaries to qualify for Sunday's finals.

In the 1,500m, senior James Wilkes (Concord, N.H.) and sophomore Aidan O'Hern (Concord, N.H.) advanced to the finals. Wilkes recorded the fastest time of 3:52.89 and O'Hern crossed the finish line in 3:53.84, which marked the fourth best time.

A pair of Wildcats also advanced in the 110m hurdles. Senior Michael Monahan (Tewksbury, Mass.) recorded the third-fastest time of 15.18 seconds and freshman William Love (Newton, Mass.) was fifth in 15.52.

Sophomore Kenney McElroy (West Linn, Ore.) won the third preliminary heat with a time of 1:54.09 to advance to the 800m final.