Abaka-Amuah Wins Shot Put Gold Again at America East Championships

Sunday, May 10

Lowell, Mass.

9 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Championships

Yoofi Abaka-Amuah throws the shot put at the UNH Wildcat Invitational on April 25, 2026. He won the event with a school record.

Photo by: Rose Blaney

Abaka-Amuah Wins Shot Put Gold Again at America East Championships

5/10/2026 8:45:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Yoofi Abaka-Amuah (Worcester, Mass.) of the University of New Hampshire men's track & field team earned a gold medal in the shot put and bronze in the discus at the 2026 America East Outdoor Championships, which were hosted by UMass Lowell, on Sunday. UNH finished in fifth place with 85.5 points.

UMass Lowell won the men's title with 166.5 points and was followed by UAlbany (140), UMBC (137) and Binghamton (106.5). The University of Maine (84), Bryant University (61), NJIT (40) and the University of Vermont (35.5) complete the standings.

In the two days, UNH earned a total of six medals with a breakdown of two gold, two silver and two bronze.

Abakah-Amuah, who also placed third in Saturday's hammer, earned 22 points in the Championships to rank second among all men. Freshman Ethan Palmer (Bowdoin, Maine) ranked fifth with 16 points.

"I'm so proud of this team, which has been led by seniors who have given so much to the program," said Anna Magle-Haberek, the director of the women's and men's track & field and cross country programs. "We had some incredible performances in both days of the conference championships."

CLICK HERE for PDF results. CLICK HERE to view results online.

Abaka-Amuah won the shot put for the second consecutive year with a throw of 18.85 meters (61 feet-10.25 inches) on his fifth attempt. He led from start to finish after recording a mark of 17.26m in the first round. Abaka-Amuah is the eighth man and first since UNH's Zachary Astle (2019, 2021) to win consecutive shot put titles.

Earlier in the day, Abaka-Amuah was the top 'Cat and third overall in the discus at 51.32m (168-4) on his fifth throw. He was in second place after his first-round throw of 50.35m, but he was bumped to third in the third round.

Freshman Shawn Boudreau (Hudson, N.H.) also earned points for UNH in the discus with a personal-best mark of 48.93m (160-6) for sixth place.

Palmer earned his second silver medal of the weekend with a runner-up finish in the triple jump. His mark of 15.51m (50-10.75) on his last attempt bested the school record but will not enter the record book as the new benchmark because the wind aid was greater than 2.0 meters/second at +2.4. Palmer also had leaps of 15.36m (+1.5) in the fourth round and 15.25m (+0.4) in the second.

Senior Kyran Maher (Andover, Mass.) placed fifth in the pole vault. After passing on the first three heights, Maher cleared both 4.47m and 4.62m on his second attempt. He was one of five competitors in the field of 14 to advance to 4.77m, but did not clear the bar on three attempts to finish at 4.62m.

Senior John Murphy (Deerfield, N.H.) was the sixth-fastest runner in the 5,000m with a time of 14 minutes, 54.90 seconds. Among the 49 runners in three heats, Murphy had the 32^nd-fastest split of 8:03.56 through 2,600m. In Heat 3 (24 runners), he moved up to fifth place with two laps to go and finished with a sub-minute last lap of 59.77 seconds to cross the finish line in sixth place.

Junior Gunnar Sokol (Berwick, Maine) took sixth place in the high jump by clearing 1.92m (6-3.5) – six of the 15 competitors advanced to that height – and sophomore Sam Grube (Dover, N.H.) cleared 1.87m (6-1.5) to tie for seventh place.

Senior Nathan Fletcher (Portsmouth, N.H.) and sophomore Danny Anderson (Naugatuck, Conn.) placed sixth and eighth, respectively in the 400m hurdles with times of 54.17 and 56.20.

UNH's quartet of James Gecek (High Bridge, N.J.), Evan Wong (Beverly, Mass.), Danny Anderson (Naugatuck, Conn.), Rio Calle (Weare, N.H.) took sixth place in the 4x100m relay with a time of 42.76.

The Wildcats also placed sixth in the 4x800m relay as the combination of junior Julian Rime (New City, N.Y.), Ryan Zumbach (Hampton, N.H.), Ian Smith (Munster, Ind.) and Carter Norton (East Greenbush, N.Y.) crossed the finish line in 7:41.73.

Rime raced to seventh place in the 800m final with a time of 1:52.08 that included a split of 55.72 on the last lap.

Gecek, Fletcher, Anderson, Wong combined for a time of 3:19.85 in the 4x400m relay to finish in eighth place.

In the decathlon, junior Avery Cipcic (Suffield, Conn.) took eighth place with 5,602 points. Cipcic's top-scoring event Sunday was the 110m hurdles with 620 points (17.04 seconds).

The NCAA First Round is May 27-30 at the University of Kentucky.

UNH Results

Shot Put
- Abaka-Amuah, 1^st place, 18.85m (61-10.25)
- Caden Zalenski (Milford, N.H.), 9^th place, 15.19m (49-10)
- Noah Buchanan (Murrieta, Calif.), 15^th place, 14.38m (47-2.25)
Triple Jump
- Palmer, 2^nd, 15.51m (50-10.75)
- Sokol, 12^th place, 14.20m (46-3.25)
Discus
- Abaka-Amuah, 3^rd place, 51.32m (168-4)
- Boudreau, 6^th place, 48.93m (160-6)
- Max LaPointe (Amesbury, Mass.), 10^th place, 46.91m (153-11)
- Tyson Patch (Walpole, N.H.), 19^th place, 40.89m (134-2)
Pole Vault
- Maher, 5^th place, 4.62m (15-1.75)
High Jump
- Sokol, 6^th place, 1.92m (6-3.50)
- Grube, tie-7^th place, 1.87m (6-1.5)
5,000m
- Murphy, 6^th place, 14:54.90
400m Hurdles
- Fletcher, 6^th place, 54.17
- Anderson, 8^th place, 56.20
4x100m Relay
- Gecek, Wong, Anderson, Calle, – 6^th place, 42.76
4x800m Relay
- Rime, Zumbach, Smith, Norton – 6^th place, 7:41.73
800m
- Rime, 7^th place, 1:52.08
4x400m Relay
- Gecek, Fletcher, Anderson, Wong – 8^th place, 3:19.85
Decathlon
- Cipcic, 8^th place, 5,602 points
- Cameron Jacobs (Naugatuck, Conn.), 9^th place, 5,456 points
1,500m
- Gavin Malark (Stratham, N.H.), 10^th place, 3:55.21