NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (April 30, 2022) -- In the final weekend of the regular season, the Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team competed in a pair of meets. On Friday, the Ravens had select athletes in action at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, for the prestigious Penn Relays. On Saturday, Franklin Pierce took fifth, of seven teams, at the Blue Devil Invite, hosted by Central Connecticut State, in New Britain, Conn.

In Philadelphia, the Ravens had a pair of relays take to the track, as they fielded teams in the 4x200-meter College race and the 4x400-meter Eastern race. In the 4x200, sophomore Angel Gonzalez (North Andover, Mass.), senior Devin Jones (Manchester, N.H.), sophomore Nathan Rinaldi (Bristol, R.I.) and sophomore Stephen Harris (Billerica, Mass.) took 11^th for their 1:28.06 time. The 4x400 team took 14^th for their 3:24.95 time, with a group consisting of Harris, Rinaldi, Jones and sophomore Ryan Walker (Seabrook, N.H.).

As for field events, sophomore Brogan Bonsaint (Somersworth, N.H.) finished 22^nd in the men's college javelin throw, with a heave of 53.52 meters, as one of just three Division II athletes in the field.

On Saturday, the full team competed at the Blue Devil Invite. Sophomore Wondu Summa (Burlington, Vt.) took second in the 3k for his time of 8:35. He was accompanied by graduate student Sebastien Vicary (Ulceby, United Kingdom), who took fourth for an 8:43 time. Following Vicary was sophomore Ryan Outerbridge (Paget, Bermuda), who ran 8:46 to take fifth. Finally, there was senior Cody Tallent (Bellows Falls, Vt.) taking sixth for his 9:05 time. Walker picked up a point in the 800 meters, with an eighth-place finish in a time of 1:55.93.

On the sprint side of the things, in the 100-meter dash, Gonzalez took third for his 11.16-second time. Senior Ethan Pezzullo (Bristol, R.I.) and freshman Rodsir Vaughn (Darien, Conn.) scored as well, in seventh (11.56) and eighth (11.59) places, respectively. Vaughn also chalked up a point in the 200, in eighth place at 23.68 seconds.

In the pole vault, sophomore Connor Nordmann (Bethel, Conn.) took third after clearing 3.90 meters. In the shot put, senior Croix Albee (Trenton, Maine) took seventh for his 14.19-meter throw. In the hammer throw, it was seventh place for junior Victor Da Silva (Shrewsbury, Mass.), with a throw of 32.25 meters.

Pezzullo doubled up to score in the long jump as well, with a leap of 6.04 meters to finish eighth.

The Ravens now head to the championship portion of the campaign, as they visit Stonehill for the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on May 6-7 in Easton, Mass.