McGrath Breaks School Record at America East Championships

Saturday, February 26

Boston, Mass.

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Indoor Championships

Photo by: Seth Poplaski

2/26/2022 6:47:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

UNH Finishes Fifth Overall in Two-Day Event Held at Boston U.

BOSTON -- Senior Kevin McGrath (Hopkinton, N.H.) won the high jump with a school-record performance and the University of New Hampshire men's track & field team placed fifth at the 2022 America East Indoor Track & Field Championships that concluded Saturday at Boston University.

The Wildcats, who were in sixth place following Friday's opening day of competition, amassed 63 points to place behind UMass Lowell (215 points), UAlbany (172), Binghamton University (115) and Maine (79). UNH was followed in the standings by UMBC (55), University of Vermont (38), NJIT (20) and University of Hartford (18).

"McGrath was the highlight on the men's side, he was fantastic," said UNh head coach Robert Hoppler. Was happy with the way they ran in the 800 and the 4x800, they competed really hard and really tough, as well as our two shot putters. Brian Genet left it all on the track and he did that. That's a huge achievement for any athlete, I was very impressed with that."

CLICK HERE to view complete meet results.

McGrath was the only competitor of 12 entrants in the high jump to clear 6-feet, 8.75 inches and then he went on to break his school record by clearing a height of 6-10.75. He broke his New England championship mark of 6-.975 established earlier this month.

UNH compiled 18 points in the high jump. In addition to McGrath's 10 points, senior Emmanuel Nkounkou (Dover, N.H.) placed fifth at 6-4.75 for four points. He was followed by sophomore Andrew Kelly (Portsmouth, N.H.) in sixth at 6-4.75 for three points and senior Nate Hobbs (Peabody, Mass.) it a tie for seventh at 6-2.75.

New Hampshire's 4x800 meter relay raced to second place with an aggregate time of 7 minutes, 40.88 seconds. Senior Colin Conery (Concord, N.H.) ran the first leg in 1:56.78 and handed the baton off in third place. Junior Dillon Adamy (Clinton, N.J.) ran his split in 1:54.42, which was the second-fastest second leg and lifted the 'Cats into second place midway through the race. Senior Spenser Sawyer (Windham, N.H.) ran the third-fastest third leg of 1:55.29 to keep UNH in second place overall. Junior Kenney McElroy (West Linn, Ore) ran the anchor leg in 1:54.33, which was the second-best in the fourth leg, and crossed the finish line in second place.

Senior Brian Genet (Merrimack, N.H.) placed third in the heptathlon with a total of 4,693 points. His top scoring of the three Saturday events was the 60m hurdles, where his time of 8.72 seconds earned 809 points. He ran the 60m dash in 7.29 seconds for 782 points and cleared 10-8 in the pole vault for 418 points.

Sophomore Joshua Hoffman (Litchfield, N.H.) also earned a third-place finish with his mark of 50-4.50 in the shot put. He recorded that effort in the fifth of six throws. Junior Andrew Fleming (Acton, Mass.) placed fifth with a throw of 49-9.75, which he recorded on his first attempt.

McElroy finished fourth in the 800m before going on to anchor the second-place 4x800m relay. He crossed the finish line of the individual event in 1:52.46. Adamy took seventh in the 800m in 1:52.84.

Sawyer recorded the eighth-fastest time in the 1,000m with a clocking of 2:29.33.

UNH's 4x400m relay quartet finished in seventh place with a time of 3:22.52. Sophomore Adrian Sutton (Rochester, N.H.) ran the lead leg and was followed by senior Jack Kennefick (Walpole, Mass.), junior William Curran (Old Saybrook, Conn.) and Nkounkou.

New Hampshire returns to action March 5-6 at the ECAC/IC4A Championships, which are also being held at Boston University.