McGovern Wins Hammer, Men in 1st at America East Championship

Saturday, May 9

Lowell, Mass.

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Championships

Liam McGovern hammer throw at UNH Wildcat Invitational_04-24-26

Photo by: Kallie Gagne

McGovern Wins Hammer, Men in 1st at America East Championship

5/9/2026 9:36:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Liam McGovern (North Kingstown, R.I.) of the University of New Hampshire men's track & field team won the men's hammer for the third consecutive year at the America East Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday to lead the Wildcats to first place after the first day of the meet.

UNH won three individual medals with McGovern's gold, a silver from freshman Ethan Palmer (Bowdoin, Maine) in the long jump and bronze from senior Yoofi Abaka-Amuah (Worcester, Mass.) in the hammer. The Wildcats are atop the team standings (5 of 22 events scored) with 33 points.

The conference championship meet concludes May 10 at UMass Lowell. The host school is in second place with 30 points, followed by Binghamton University (29) and UAlbany (26).

"I'm very impressed with our performance today," said Anna Magle-Haberek, the director of the women's and men's track & field and cross country programs. "Our hammer squad got us off to a great start by getting four of the top seven places, recording PRs and throwing well for all six rounds.

"Despite very challenging weather conditions, our team competed hard, saw many points scored and people advance to finals. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do (Sunday)," she added.

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

The 'Cats amassed 22 points in the hammer by finishing first, third, fifth and seventh.

McGovern was atop the hammer leaderboard of nine throwers into the finals with a throw of 64.43m, bested that with a personal-best 64.98m on his fourth attempt and bested that at 65.16 in the fifth round. He was displaced from the lead during the final round, but then unleashed a throw of 66.60m (218-6) to win the event by an impressive 1.03m.

McGovern is only the second athlete to three-peat in the men's hammer; it was previously done in the 1989-90-91-92 seasons. He bested his previous benchmark of 64.91m established in last year's conference championship meet.

Abaka-Amuah entered the finals in third place with a mark of 59.35m and was in fifth place when he recorded a throw of 64.63m to climb into second place. Abaka-Amuah recorded a personal-best effort of 65.03m (215-1) on his last throw and finished in third place.

Senior Jack Washam (Nashua, N.H.) advanced to the finals in fifth place with a personal-best 59.04m and classmate Caden Zalenski (Milford, N.H.) was directly behind at 56.67m. Zalenski ascended to fifth place with a throw of 60.39m (198-1) on his last attempt. Washam placed seventh with that personal-best effort.

Palmer entered the finals in seventh place with a mark of 7.12m but leapt into first place with a personal-best effort of 7.37m (24-2.25) in the fifth round, and he finished in second place. Palmer bested his previous PR of 7.08m (23-2.75) established two weeks ago at the UNH Wildcat Invitational.

Junior Gunnar Sokol (Berwick, Maine) entered his last attempt in eighth place but climbed into a sixth-place finish with a mark of 7.20m (23-7.5).

In the decathlon, junior Avery Cipcic (Suffield, Conn.) sits in eighth place through five events with 3,095 points; he trails fifth place by 34 points and is 58 points ahead of ninth place. Senior Cameron Jacobs (Naugatuck, Conn.) is 11^th with 2,911 points.

Cipcic recorded a high of 714 points – the most by any decathlete – by clearing 1.90m in the high jump and he earned 679 points in the 100m with a time of 11.86 seconds. Jacobs' top scoring event was the long jump, where he recorded 661 points with a mark of 6.34m

Three Wildcats advanced out of Saturday's preliminary races into Sunday finals.

Junior Julian Rime (New City, N.Y.) recorded the sixth-fastest time of 1:51 in the 800m. He placed third in Heat 4 to advance with one of the next four fastest times in addition to the four heat winners. Rime opened with a 53.99-second split in the first lap – it was the third fastest split among the 26 runners.

Senior Nathan Fletcher (Portsmouth, N.H.) and sophomore Danny Anderson (Naugatuck, Conn.) placed sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 400m hurdles to advance to the final. Fletcher crossed the finish line fourth in Heat 1 with a time of 54.64 and Anderson was fourth in Heat 2 at 56.20.

In the first track event of the day, sophomore Gavin Malark (Stratham, N.H.) advanced in the 1,500m with a time of 3:54.94. Malark was in the fastest heat, as Heat 3 produced all three of the next-three fastest-time qualifiers.

UNH Results

Hammer
- McGovern, 1^st place, 66.60m (218-6)
- Abaka-Amuah, 3^rd place, 65.03m (213-4)
- Zalenski, 5^th place, 60.39m (198-1)
- Washburn, 7^th place, 59.04m (193-8)
Long Jump
- Palmer, 2^nd place, 7.37m (24-2.25)
- Sokol, 6^th place, 23-7.5)
- Rio Calle (Weare, N.H.), 11^th place, 6.88m (22-7)
Javelin
- Jayson Blaisdell (Barrington, N.H.), 11^th place, 44.98m (147-7_
10,000m
- Carson Eames (Littleton, N.H.), 20^th place, 31:51.24
Decathlon (Five events scored)
- Cipcic, 8^th place, 3095 points
- Jacobs, 11^th place, 2,911 points

UNH Results (Preliminary Round)

400m Hurdles
- Fletcher, 6^th place, 54.64
- Anderson, 8^th place, 56.20
800m
- Rime, 6^th place, 1:51.76
- Carter Norton (East Greenbush, N.Y.), 19^th place, 1:56.70
- Ryan Zumbach (Hampton, N.H.), 23^rd place, 1:59.01
1,500m
- Malark, 12^th place, 3:54.94
- Xavier Lemieux (Buxton, Maine), 16^th place, 3:57.30
- Porter Hurteau (Milton, Vt.), 33^rd place, 4:13.09
400m
- James Gecek (High Bridge, N.J.), 21^st place, 50.73