Abaka-Amuah, Shea and 4x800 Relay Win New England Titles; UNH Finishes Second

Saturday, March 8

Boston, Mass.

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

NEICAAA

Abaka-Amuah, Shea and 4x800 Relay Win New England Titles; UNH Finishes Second

3/8/2025 4:57:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

BOSTON – Grad student Aidan Shea (Amherst, Mass.), junior Yoofi Abaka-Amuah (Worcester, Mass.) and the 4x800-meter relay of the University of New Hampshire men's track & field team all recorded first-place finishes Saturday at the NEICAAA Championships at The Reggie Lewis Center. UNH finished the two-day meet with 123 points to take second place.

UNH, which entered the day in second place with 33.50 points, amassed 89.5 points Saturday to retain its place in the standings; each of the three first-place finishes on Day 2 contributed 10 points to the team total. In addition to the three titles, the Wildcats also had three second-place efforts and a trio of third-place finishes Saturday.

The University of Rhode Island amassed 127 points to edge UNH by four points. The Wildcats were 50 points ahead of third place finisher Stonehill College (73 points) in the 25-team meet.

"I'm very happy with the overall team finish of second place - especially after also finishing second outdoors last year," said Anna Magle-Haberek, the director of cross country and track & field. "Winning five events is an accomplishment to be proud of, as is scoring points in many event areas to show our balance and versatility. We are really looking forward to beginning our outdoor season in just a few weeks."

Abaka-Amuah recorded his winning throw of 17.88 meters (58 feet, 8.0 inches) in the shot put on his fifth of six attempts. He had advanced to first place in the fourth round with a throw of 17.69m. Abaka-Amuah, who fouled on his first two attempts, recorded a mark of 14.81m in Round 3 to sit in fifth place and advance to the final flight.

Shea raced to the New England 3,000m title by crossing the finish line in 8 minutes, 14.23 seconds, which was 1.64 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

The 4x800m quartet of senior Kevin Finn (Kennebunk, Maine), junior Joshua Lesniak (Durham, Conn.), freshman Gavin Malark (Exeter, N.H.) and senior Brayden Kearns (Deerfield, N.H.) cruised to victory with a time of 7:53.34 – almost six seconds ahead of the runner-up. Lesniak ran the second leg and recorded the fastest UNH split of 1:56.49 to extend the Wildcats' lead of .07-of-a-second through 800m to 5.23 seconds after 1,600m.

Finn led a strong UNH contingent in the 1-mile run. Finn finished second with a time of 4:12.01 followed by junior John Murphy (Deerfield, N.H.) in third place at 4:13.75. The duo earned eight and six points, respectively, for the Wildcats. Lesniak placed ninth overall to finish one place out of the scoring.

UNH took four of the top eight spots in the 1,000-meter run led by junior Samuel Hilts (Concord, N.H.) in second place with a time of 2:32.59 and freshman Ian Smith (Munster, Ind.) in third at 2:33.16. They earned eight and six points, respectively toward UNH's team total.

Sophomore Matthew Allen (East Kingston, N.H.) was the next Wildcat and fifth runner overall to cross the finish line with a clocking of 2:33.56 and freshman Carson Eames (Littleton, N.H.) took eighth place in 2:35.54. They added four and one point, respectively.

The 4x400m relay squad of freshman James Gecek (High Bridge, N.J.), junior Nathan Fletcher (Portsmouth, N.H.), freshman Danny Anderson (Naugatuck, Conn.) and sophomore Avery Cipcic (Suffield, Conn.) crossed the finish line with a time of 3:23.41 to take second place.

Junior Caden Zalenski (Milford, N.H.) added six more points to the UNH score with a third-place effort in the shot put with a mark of 16.10m (52-10). With the combination of Abaka-Amuah's win, the 'Cats recorded 16 points in the shot put.

Junior Nathan Fletcher (Portsmouth, N.H.) raced to fourth place in the 500m dash with a clocking of 1:05.19 to add five more points to UNH's team score.

In the 3,000m, freshman Christian Cerrullo (Yardley, Pa.) was ninth in 8:37.95 to finish just outside of a scoring place.

The UNH men's track & field team returns to action with the start of the outdoor season March 28-29 at the Black & Gold Invitational at Bryant University. The Wildcats will host the Jim Boulanger Invitational on Saturday, April 5, and the Reggie F. Atkins Track and Field Facility will also be the site of the America East Championships on May 3-4.