Men’s Indoor Track & Field Opens Season at Emmanuel Invitational, Balestra Secures New Englands Spot

BOSTON – Suffolk men's indoor track & field lifted the lid on its 2019-20 campaign at the Emmanuel Invitational Saturday. 

Michael Balestra provided the bright spot for the Rams at the Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center as the sophomore earned his place at the NCAA Division III New England Regionals in the weight throw. The captain, who calls Lincoln, Rhode Island, home, tallied a 14.59-meters toss to punch his ticket to regionals for the second straight season. His personal-best performance was good for third behind Bridgewater State's Nick Johnson (15.72 M) and Rhode Island College's Matthew Thibaudeau (15.05 M). 

The weight throw's 36-competitor field featured fellow Rams Frank Irizarry (8.18 M) and Thomas Russo (6.84 M), who each made their collegiate debuts. Irizzary also participated in the shot put (8.36 M). 

Suffolk's largest contingent ran the mile with eight of the 46 runners wearing blue-and-gold. Cole Bolduc had a standout showing in his first indoor event, finishing 10th with a time of 4:42.84, while his classmate, Justin Turner, finished seven spots behind him after crossing the line in 4:47.41. Hunter Toyoda placed inside the top 20 as well. The sophomore captain's sub 5:00.0 time of 4:48.87 was good for 19th. Keoni Geers (25th – 5:01.45), Elijah Dillon (27th – 5:04.43), Byron Deily (29th – 5:05.93), Jonah Flores (39th – 5:28.46) and Ben Cvitkusic (43rd – 5:36.38) rounded out the Rams in the vent.  

Robert Solari and Joshua Smith each participated in the 500. Solari clocked in in 1:11.60, good for 11th, while Smith finished in 1:13.25 to take 15th. 

Nicholas Nunez ran around the track once in 1:00.04 to claim 25th in the 400.  

Connor Abbotoni made his collegiate debut in the 200, where his time of 24.10 was good for 24th out of 72 student-athletes. 

Suffolk's sprinters featured Connor Baston and Justin Patten in the 60-meter dash. The former finished 26th with a time of 7.47, with the latter putting together an 8.14 showing. 

Abbotoni, Baston, Aiman Salih and Bolduc assembled Suffolk's first-ever relay team. The underclassmen combined for a 3:36.16 4x400 time to take seventh out of the 19 four-member squads in the event. 

The Rams are back in action next weekend when they split up at the RIC Invitational and the Howlin' Husky Invitational.