Springfield, Mass. – December 6, 2014 - The Springfield College men's track and field team placed second in its first indoor meet of the season on Saturday. WPI took top honors as a team with 185 points. Springfield was second with 125 points, followed by Westfield (121) and RIC (104) .

The Pride was led by sophomore Alex Niemiec (Chicopee, Mass.) with first place finishes in two events and by graduate student John Dayton (Bolton, Conn.) who broke the school record in the weight throw with a heave of 62 feet, 9.5 inches. Dayton broke a 35 year old record set by Glenn Pires back in 1979, when he threw 62 feet.

Niemiec took first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.09 and was victorious in the long jump, posting a distance of 22 feet-4.5 inches. In the high jump, Niemec finished second with a leap of 6 feet-8 inches.

Other first place finishes on the day included senior Ken Toal (Newtown, Conn.) in the 200 meter dash posting a time of 23.56, sophomore Jacob Buhelt (Falmouth, Mass.) in the 400 meter with a time of 52.73, and junior Jacob Simons (Naugatuck, Conn.) in the 800 meter clocking in at 2:01.06.

In the shot put, junior Brandon Hammerstrom (Auburn, N.H.) was runner up with a toss of 45 feet, 10.75 inches.

Springfield's 4×200 meter relay team of Buhelt, Toal, Marlon Black (Danbury, Conn.), and Caine Caldwell (Bronx, N.Y.) placed second with a time of 1:35.06. Scott Bushey (Hebron, Conn.), Jack Pinho (Prospect, Conn.), Michael Sherry (Loudonville, N.Y.), and Simons took second in the 4x800 meter relay posting a time of 8:31.95.

Springfield will be back in action on January 17, traveling to Bowdoin College.